A Fantasy That He Never Believed In
by hella-kun
Summary: Hayate is completely oblivious of Hinagiku's feelings for him because of his distorted view of love. Things heat up as Hinagiku does the unexpected.
1. This Isn't What I Would Do

**Chapter 1: This Isn't What I Would Do **

It was past 3 in the morning in this quiet night in spring, and as usual, the blue-haired boy is the only one in Violet Mansion to stay up this late.

Sitting at his desk and looking at his homework, Hayate made a long sigh while working at his last problem. '_Finally, I may be able to sleep a bit after this,'_ he thought.

After a few missteps and recalculations, Hayate finishes his last problem with a smile. _'If it wasn't for her help, I would have never finished!'_ he thought, remembering how the student council president across the hall was helping him a few hours earlier before she went to her room. _'Haha, I can't wait to show her this after it gets graded! Maybe she'll stop getting angry at me...'_ he thought proudly as he glances at his alarm clock.

It was now past 4.

"Eh?! It took me that long to finish this problem?!" he asked himself loudly while panicking. This was no time for a butler to nap. Hayate sighed at the thought of his third day with no sleep. "Either way, I must get ready..." he said to himself. He stood up from his chair and began changing into his butler attire.

* * *

_ 'What the..? What was that noise..?' _she thought as she slowly opened her eyes. _'It sounded like someone's voice...'_

The pink-haired girl looked at her closet to see if her little blond roommate was the one making that noise. Through the darkness and blurriness from her tired eyes, she could not see any movements coming from the closet and assumed that Alice must have talked in her sleep. Hinagiku shrugged and tried falling asleep again, but failed as she gradually became fully awake in a couple of minutes.

She looked at her clock. It was past 4 in the morning. _'I might as well get a small breakfast before running,'_ she thought as she quietly got up and exited her room.

Hinagiku walked through the dark hallway and noticed a small light coming from the door of Hayate's room.

_'Up early again?'_ she thought, _'Now that I think of it, that noise sounded a lot like his voice...' _

Now standing in front of his door, Hinagiku gently knocks on Hayate's door.

There was no answer.

"Hayate-kun? Are you in there?" she asked through the closed door. Again, no answer. Something was wrong.

_'Should I go in...? What if he's not there?'_ she asked herself._ 'What if he's naked...?'_ she blushed hard at the thought of coming in to see Hayate shirtless.

She brushed off that imagination, shaking her head vigorously. Without another thought, she slowly opens the door and pokes her head out of the door. There is Hayate, in his butler uniform, sleeping on top of his futon flat on his back.

_'Phew...'_ she thought, relieved that he is not naked. Hinagiku walks into his room, noticing his pile of homework on his desk. She picked up one of the papers, the same one that Hayate finished his last problem on._ 'That last one must have been really hard, but he got it right...'_ she thought, thoroughly analyzing through his work. She turned her head towards the sleeping butler.

"You must have worked all night on this. You deserve to sleep." she whispered with a smile at him. She quietly walks over to his lamp and turns it off, almost completely darkening the room. She then notices the moon outside of his window shine all over his face. Hinagiku continues to stare at him, feeling like she could barely move from her place. After what seemed like a minute of staring, she blushes at the thought of what she wants to do next.

_'He might wake up...'_ she thought to herself. But without hesitation, Hinagiku stealthily laid down next to him, her entire body facing close to Hayate's, with her eyes staring at his sleeping face. Her arm slowly rose towards his face. 'What am I doing..' she thought as she began brushing her hand through Hayate's hair.

She begins feeling just how soft his hair is. She then notices his long blue hair laying all over his eyes and how his mouth is partly open. As she continues to stroke his hair, she blushes harder as she notices up close to how really handsome Hayate is, despite his feminine look at times.

Hinagiku smiled. This is the person she loves dearly. No matter what would happen to her, he would always come to her rescue just by her calling his name. He would always be there for her, even though she knows it is because of his devotion as a Sanzenin butler. But that didn't matter, his pure kindness got the best of her.

Feeling relaxed and happy by his side, she just couldn't help but keep on playing with his hair. She then slowly slid down her hand down to his face. "I hope that one day, you will be the one stroking through my hair while I'm asleep..." she whispered to his ear before she slowly unconsciously closed her eyes and fell asleep next to him.

* * *

It was now 6 in the morning and the sun is halfway rose up. The maid of the house yawned as she walked out of her room before noticing one of the doors in the hallway open. Having a tendency to close all doors in the mansion, Maria walked towards that door. Out of slight curiosity, she quickly poked her head out to see a sleeping butler and a sleeping pink-haired girl cuddling him before quietly closing the door.

Maria then walked towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast. As she pulled out her apron, her eyes suddenly widened up. She ran back towards that room to see if her eyes were wrong. She quietly opened the door to see the teenage boy sleeping next to a teenage girl cuddling him.

A teenage boy sleeping next to a teenage girl.

A teenage boy and a teenage girl. Sleeping. Together.

Maria covered her mouth before she started muffling through her hands. 'This is unacceptable!' she thought to herself furiously, 'How can they do this at this age!' She blushed as she thought of what they might have done the night before. 'Did they even do it while he wore that butler uniform? Don't tell me Hinagiku-san has that kind of fetish...' Maria squirmed as she exaggerated her dirty thoughts even more.

As she continued to stare at the sleeping couple, she notices that Hinagiku is laying on the floor and not the futon. _ 'Could it be that Hinagiku-san came into his room while he fell asleep?'_ she thought. '_That Hayate-kun must be really popular with the girls. But with Hinagiku-san of all girls? That is quite a surpise...'_

Her dirty thoughts vanished. She smiled as she could see how innocent the couple looks now. Suddenly, a light bulb popped over her head.

She quickly went into her room and came back with her smartphone.

"This will be good..." she said with an evil-looking grin as she opened her camera app.


	2. Bubblegum

**Chapter 2: ********** Bubblegum**

_'I hope that one day, you will be the one stroking through my hair while I'm asleep...'_

Hayate slowly opened his eyes. A light forced him to close his eyes again. Recovering from that shine, he opened his eyes again. The sun is shining bright into his face.

_'It's sunny...,'_ he thought. Hayate felt warm. He felt embraced for some reason. Whatever this feeling was, it felt nice to him.

He just recalled this sensation. It was a very familiar feeling when he was younger. Feeling warmth throughout his entire body. Maybe it was sleep. The fact that he has never woken up in the sun before in a long time might have been the reason. Or at least that was what he thought.

Slowly sitting up from his futon and rubbing his eyes, Hayate comes to a few realizations. The first thing was that he was laying over his blanket in a breezy spring morning. The second thing was that he was in his butler uniform, feeling his cold sweat coming from the contact of satin on his legs instead of cotton.

He noticed one more thing. Hayate brought his right arm to his nose. Why does he smell like strawberries?

Not caring so much, Hayate looked at his alarm clock. It was 8:40 AM. He began to panic.

"Uwaaah! I fell asleep!" he said loudly, quickly standing up, "I missed making breakfast and now I have to go to class!" He quickly walked to his desk, put all of his notebooks in his messenger bag, and ran out of his room.

"Ah, good morning, Hayate-kun. I see you've woken up," said the maid of the house. Hayate stopped his tracks and looked to his left to see Maria and Chiharu, eating together in the living room.

"Maria-san! I'm so sorry that I overslept!" Hayate apologized as he repeatedly bowed standing up to Maria.

Maria sweatdropped. "Don't worry, Hayate-kun. You preparing breakfast early in the morning is just extra work," she said. "Why don't you have some orange juice before you run off to school?"

Hayate walked over to her and accepted her offer. He formerly thanked her and drank the whole glass of orange juice.

Hayate sat his glass down to the table. "That reminds me... I should wake up Ojou-sama," he said to himself, remembering that she always needs him to wake her up for school. He leaves the living room to Nagi's room.

"That was weird," said Chiharu, before taking another sip of her coffee. "Hinagiku-san also woke up pretty late before she ran out of the mansion."

"Ah, yes. Indeed she was," Maria said before she took her sip of coffee, _'Indeed she was... heheh...,'_ she thought with an evil grin on her face.

Chiharu bluntly stared at Maria's awkward grin on her face. _'What a weird morning...,'_ she thought. She looks at Maria pulling out her phone, snickering and making awkward laughing noises as she kept looking staring at it.

_"Hayate! Why didn't you wake up me earlier?!" _a little girl shouted, which could be heard all over the mansion.

_'Indeed, a weird morning...,' _Chiharu thought. She says bye to Maria, gets up, and leaves for school as well.

* * *

It was a bright sunny morning at Hakuou Academy. Many of the students were outside, enjoying the nice and cool weather, before each walked towards the building to class as lecture was about to begin.

"Here we goooo!" Nagi shouted. She held on to Hayate as he peddled his bicycle towards the building within campus speed.

"With you as my bicycle driver, we'll never be late!" she cheered to him. "By the way Hayate, why do you smell like strawberries?"

"Ah, about that... I really have no idea," he replied with a nervous laugh. "Ah-ha... ha..."

"Hmmm..."

Before she was about to ask another question, Hayate and Nagi arrived to their destination. He securely locked his bike to the bike rack and walked Nagi to her class before going to his. After dropping her off, Hayate looked at his watch. _'8:58... just enough time!'_ he thought gladly. He walks over to the elevator and presses the up button.

As he waits for the elevator to come up, he recalls something in his thoughts.

_'I hope that one day, you will be the one stroking through my hair while I'm asleep...'_

Hayate begins to feel warm. This sensation felt familiar. _'What was I dreaming about?' _he asked himself. He rubbed the back off his head and recalled another sensation.

_'Hayate-kun...'_

Hayate shook his head, madly blushing. _'Another one of those weird dreams I had, huh...?'_ he thought to himself. Whoever it was in his dreams, Hayate quickly shook off the feeling and came back to reality. "I must be focused," he said, "As a Sanzenin butler!"

The elevator opened. As Hayate walks in, his eyes unexpectedly meet with the student council president.

"Ah, Hinagiku-san!" said Hayate, "Good morning!"

"Oh! G-g-good morning, Hayate-kun!" Hinagiku nervously responded. _'Crap..,' _she thought_. 'I really didn't mean to fall asleep! I hope I didn't wake him up when I got up!'_

Hayate walked and stood next to her. He glanced at her, noticing her looking distracted about something. _'Is she going to press that button...?' _he thought. After waiting for her to press the button to the level where their class is, Hayate began reaching for that button.

Hinagiku ends her train of thoughts and notices his hand towards the button. "O-oh! Sorry!" she said, quickly putting her hands on that button.

Both of their hands meet. Hayate's hand laying on top of her's. They froze. How many times has situations like this have happened already?

The elevator door closed and began to go up. Both calmly removed their hands and faced the elevator door. Neither decided to look at one another, as both faces were flushed red.

_'Hayate-kun's hand is really warm...' _she thought, holding her hands together to hold on to that warmness.

_'She has really soft hands...,' _Hayate thought, still blushing from their contact.

"Um... Hayate-kun...?" Hinagiku softly called.

"Y-yes, Hinagiku-san?" Hayate responded, slowly turning around as his blush disappeared.

_'C'mon Hinagiku, just say it! Admit that you cuddled next to him because you couldn't help it! Because you love him so...,' _she thought to herself before looking in his eye, _'It's just him and I alone in the elevator! This should make the perfect scene!'_

"We're almost becoming adults. This should be nothing to worry about!" she said. She turned around to him with a cheerful smile and a thumb up.

Hayate replied with a faint smile. "Yeah... you're right, aha...," Feeling rather silly about this situation.

_'That was... really lame,' _Hinagiku thought, looking down to her feet in disappointment.

_'Hinagiku-san is so cool!' _he thought. _'Besides, there's no way that someone as cool as her would like me! She's smart, beautiful, and has all of the boys' AND girls' attention! Meanwhile, I'm poor, dumb, and work the rest of my life for a thirteen year old who can't even lift! Yeah!' _His hopeless thoughts even made the elevator door sweatdrop.

* * *

Meanwhile, a pencil that a thirteen year old was writing with suddenly snapped and died.

"Why do I suddenly feel insulted..?" Nagi asked herself in a low voice with a mug look. Her classmates were completely bewildered by the dark aura surrounding her.

* * *

The elevator has arrived to its destined floor, sliding its door open to reveal two young adults. Hayate, being a gentleman, lets Hinagiku walk out first.

"You first," Hayate insisted.

"Th-thanks," Hinagiku said timidly. She looked at her watch. "Hayate-kun, we're late!"

She quickly ran out of the elevator. Before Hayate could start running after her, Hinagiku's hair flew up to his face as she sped up out of the elevator.

_'Strawberries...?' _he thought. Hayate froze.

"C'mon, Hayate-kun! We're gonna be late!" she shouted before she continued to run towards class. Hayate began running after her, with her scent leading him to class.


	3. You Should At Least Know That I Love You

_Authors note: Many thanks to the reviewers of this story, Rhapzody, RimoHikofan411, and DJAK-A**. Same goes to the readers. Please do feel free to review this story to let me know whether you like it or not. Maybe updates might come sooner than expected. Although it may not be much, I enjoy reading your feedbacks, which motivates me to expand this story to great lengths as I feel that the main manga series has too many fillers to focus on those two characters, which I believe won't happen for a while, so this is the reason why I'm writing this story. Don't expect the next "chappy" (lol) to come so soon as I have a summer course during the weekdays. I hope you enjoy this chapter, everyone. Cheers._

* * *

**Chapter 3: You Should At Least Know That I Love You**

The morning bell rung, signaling everyone to take their seat. A green-haired woman suddenly woke up from her desk, properly sitting down from her sleeping position and lazily took out her attendance sheet.

"Alright, class...," said Yukiji, following with a loud yawn. "Yaaahhhh! Let's begin with attendance..."

Just before she called anyone's name, the classroom door opened, revealing two young adults that looked like they have ran all the way here. The classroom stared at the couple with a blank. It's not like they've never seen them together anyways, but the purple-haired classmate analyzed them carefully. _'Something about them today seems off...' _Izumi thought. The classroom stared at them as they walked towards their seats. Yukiji, too tired and money-hungry to even care that they are late, continued with her procedure.

"Ehhh...? That's weird," said a tall girl with dark hair. "The student council president would never be late. Let alone, with that poor butler..."

"Don't get any weird ideas, Risa-san," Hinagiku replied with a glare, as she took her seat. "We each ran into our own problems."

Hayate rubbed the back of his head, "I overslept, haha...," he said before taking his seat as well.

"Then what was your excuse, Hina-chan?" asked a girl with light blue hair.

Hinagiku blushed. "I-I overslept too! Geez Miki, can't a lady sleep?!" she said loudly, embarrassed for what she has really done this morning.

_'I was just asking...,' _Miki thought. _'She can be so scary sometimes...'_

"Haa...," Izumi sighed. "Who knows if they could have slept together!"

Hayate, slightly blushing at such an image popping into his head, responded. "You know that would never happen, Segawa-san!"

_'But it did...,' _Hinagiku thought. _'I should stop talking before it gets worse...'_ She turned around to face the board, hiding her blush from her friends.

"I mean, just look at them," Izumi continued, "Hayata-kun's outfit is all wrinkled and Hina-chan's hair is out of place!"

Hinagiku's face turned even redder. _'Crap!' _she shouted in her mind, remembering how little she prepared before running out of the house._'I forgot to look in the mirror today!' _She took out her phone and began fixing her hair using the screen's reflection as a mirror.

"Now that you mentioned it," said Miki, "It really does look like they might have slept together..."

"But Hina-chan, out of all girls," said Risa, "With that poor-looking boy? No way! Someone like her is way too cool for such a lame boy with a hole in his wallet."

All three girls agreed before confirming their attendance. Hinagiku sweatdropped and made no comment.

Hayate took that word to heart. _'That insult really hurt me and my wallet...' _he thought to himself as he laid his arms on his desk and slumped his head into it. Hayate smelled strawberries again from the fabric of his sleeves, the same scent he picked up from following the student council president to class. He gave it a second thought. _'But to smell like this... there must be a reason...'. _The idea of Hinagiku sleeping next to him to spread her scent all over him while he was asleep was simply unimaginable._ 'Hinagiku would never do anything that absurd_,' he thought. Before he continued to think, something got caught in his lips. Hayate sat up and caught whatever was in his lips and looked at what it was.

_'Pink hair?' _he thought, putting that strand of hair on his desk. Hayate checked his chest to find a couple more strands of pink hair and laid them on his desk. Putting the strands together, Hayate could see how much clearer the color pink became. The windows on his side suddenly blew some air into the classroom, picking up those strands of hair to the farther front of the room. Hayate's eyes followed those strands, which led his eyes to the pink-haired girl sitting in front of the class.

Hayate's eyes slowly widened. The strawberry scent, the strands of hair found on his chest, and Hinagiku also waking up late with imperfect hair all lead to one thing.

_'I hope that one day, you will be the one stroking through my hair while I'm asleep...'_

Hayate felt warm again. That feeling of embracement became familiar again.

"Alright, class!" shouted Yukiji, slamming her attendance sheet flat on her desk. "Open up your books to page..."

Hayate's world slightly muted. As he opened his book, his eyes couldn't help but glance at the pink-haired girl sitting in front instead of the context of his book.

* * *

It was a sunny afternoon at Hakuou Academy. Class is finished and Hayate meets with his mistress at a campus bench along with her dark-haired friend who has appeared out of nowhere.

"Hayate-kun, you can go ahead and go to work with that hamster," Nagi said, "I'm gonna go to AberDouche and FitchBag with Isumi-san to see if they really do insult overweight people! This will be good material for my next manga sketch!"

"Ojou-sama, what if there won't be any overweight people?" asked Hayate, who sweatdropped at her rather silly idea.

"No worries... because I have these fat suits!" Nagi replied, pointing behind her some indeed fat suits with a dark haired boy in it.

"Why do I have to wear this?!" shouted Wataru, having trouble balancing himself.

"Wataru-kun, you must use your legs like this," said Isumi, who put on her fat suit and started walking like an overweight penguin.

_'I should just leave...,' _Hayate thought, feeling trolled. He walked away and towards the cafe to begin his part-time job.

* * *

The pink-haired girl arrives at Violet Mansion, a bit earlier as expected. This was her temporary home due to uncertain yet certain circumstances. _'I might as well relax,' _she thought. She sat on the front walkway, taking off her shoes and began staring the sunset, engulfed by the amount of orange and yellow it has spread over sky.

"Thank goodness there wasn't much to do at the tower...," she said to herself. She couldn't deal sitting in her student council office, with those three girls constantly asking her about Hayate, while seeing Chiharu sipping on her tea not even bothering to help her.

She's not even sure of what to do when Hayate arrives. She began to think of whether he should know or not. _'Knowing how dense he can be, he might not even consider me doing something that girly, right?'_ she thought. Hinagiku twitched. She hates how hard it is to confess to him at this state. _'It's as if we are forbidden to be together...'_ She made a long sigh.

"What if Hayate knew...?" she asked herself.

"What if he knew what?" asked a familiar voice.

Hinagiku turned her head around to see who it was.

"Ruka-san! Sorry, I'm just talking to myself! Nothing important!" Hinagiku said, rubbing the back of her head with a nervous laugh, at the same time furiously blushing. Wanting to change to topic, she asked right away, "You must be back from touring. How was it?"

The blue-haired idol sat down next to her and also began staring at the sunset. "It was fine," she said. Turning her head to look at Hinagiku, noticing her blush, she asked again, "So what was it about Hayate-kun that he shouldn't know?"

_'Damnit, she's good...' _Hinagiku thought. She sighed. She accepted her challenge or whatever she believed it was.

"He doesn't know that Nagi-san is hiding a second PSP under her futon. So while he has her primary PSP during the night, Nagi-san continues to play Heart Kingdoms: Sleep by Birth underneath her blanket, which explains her state of sleep deprivation and lack of motivation in school," Hinagiku said with a straight face.

Ruka-san stared at Hinagiku with a blunt look for a couple of seconds. Hinagiku tried to maintain her straight look, fearing of losing her composure from lying. Ruka quickly stood up.

"That's terrible!" she said in shock, believing everything that Hinagiku just said.

_'Phew..._' Hinagiku thought, _'Good move, Hinagiku!'_

"That little girl doesn't deserve to be short forever!" Ruka said loudly. Hinagiku sweatdropped.

Ruka paused for a second before she made a faint smile.

"Then again, I'm kind of relieved," she said to Hinagiku. "For a second there, I thought you were gonna tell me that you slept with Hayate-kun or something like that."

Hinagiku startled, feeling as if she just got hit by thunder. "W-w-w-what? O-o-of course not!" she said loudly. She began sweating a lot. _'What the hell?!' _she thought. _'This idol is nothing to be judged for!'_

Ruka, who was staring into the sun the whole time instead of Hinagiku mildly panicking, continued speaking. "Of course not," she said, agreeing. "Even someone as charming as Hina-san could never get to his heart..."

Hinagiku, looking puzzled, asked, "What do you mean?"

She looked at Ruka, who raised her right hand and placed it on her own chest.

"Because I tried," said Ruka, clenching the area where her heart lies, before looking at Hinagiku. "I kissed him."

Suddenly, Ruka felt two hands grabbing by her collar as she was pulled to Hinagiku's face.

"You kissed him?!" Hinagiku asked loudly. Ruka, seeing evil intentions in her eyes, began panicking in horror.

"I-I-I couldn't resist!" she yelled. "He was being so sweet! At that moment, I really did fall in love with him and confessed! Please don't hurt me!"

At that moment, Hinagiku was lost for words. Not only does she have another friend competing for Hayate's heart, but this person in particular is an idol, who kissed him!

"Can you let go, please?" asked a horrified idol. Hinagiku suddenly realized where her hands still were. She lets go of her and apologizes.

"Don't worry about it," Ruka responded. "I know my actions weren't right anyways..."

"No, it's not that..." Hinagiku said, "I was just surprised. That's all..." But in truth, she was more jealous than surprised. _'How could she...?' _she thought. She turned her face away to wipe down a tear about to roll down her cheek. '_She's so straightforward about her words and action. Why can't I be like that with Hayate-kun?' _She tried to let him go once for his ex-girlfriend, although she was told by him that he was dumped afterwards, she then felt relieved. But could she risk letting him go out with an idol?

"He didn't even return his feelings for me," Ruka said. Hinagiku's ears rang. _'Hallelujah!' _she thought. Before she was about to sigh of relief, she then notices Ruka frowning, "Because he's the Sanzenin butler, and won't allow himself to be interfered with such a relationship..." Tears began rolling down her eyes. "Damnit..."

Hinagiku sees her tears rolling down her face with a surprised look. Not knowing what to say, there were no noise but the sound of sobbing coming from the idol. Sharing the same feelings of unrequited love, Hinagiku wrapped her arms around the idol, as Ruka slowly began to cry onto her chest. Feeling sad for Ruka at the same time, Hinagiku couldn't help but think of what would happen to her if she were to confess to him as well.

_'He even rejected an idol...' _she thought. _'Do I even have a chance with him, even if he is a butler?'_

She looked up to the night sky, where the sunset has finally disappeared.

"It's getting late. C'mon, let's go take a bath..."


	4. Dinner is ready, Dessert is offensive

_Authors note: I'll be skipping ahead a few events of the main manga plot. Such as this moment, we do not know who will win the battle between Nagi and Ruka in the main story, but in my fanfic, let's just assume that Nagi has won (in some way in hopes that she will win in the main story). Thanks for bearing the wait for this next chapter. __I'm given more time to extend and develop my writing. __Since there are those who really like this fic, I'd really hate to leave it unfinished, so I will do my best given my time to keep updating over the summer. Also to Festus Flare, thank you, I really appreciate your feedback. I did not know Hina and Hayate were in different classes given their age difference, but seeing that Hinagiku often helps him with homework, let's just say that she's well advanced to learn at his level of year in this fic. Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter 4: Dinner is ready. Dessert is offensive.**

The night sky exposed the streets lights turning on and shining through the pathways of the inner city. The butler who's just finished working at the cafe, takes his time to walk and enjoy the scenery of his route home. As he carries his bike, his purple-haired co-worker/roommate/childhood friend walks by his side.

They walk home together like this everyday, which lead to very little being said. At the same time, having each other's presence on this route home is one treasure that no one else could see.

Today however, felt different. She's slowed her pace down to a complete stop. The blue-haired boy noticed, just after a few feet, and turned around to face his friend looking down at the ground by his feet.

"Nishizawa-san?" he asked.

She paused for a few seconds. Disappointed at how he didn't seem interested to talk to her today, with every bit of courage, she looked up to him with a bold look. "Hayate-kun...?" Ayumu asked. "Did I do something wrong?

"No, you're fine," he responded. "Did something happen earlier?"

She paused for a few seconds. "I feel that you weren't being yourself today..."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"You barely smiled or talked today..." she muttered, with a disappointed look. Truth be told, she just works to be able to live and walk home with her childhood crush. His smile would make her day, any day. She was looking forward to see it again, but today, that reward was not given. Out of frustation, she just had to ask what went wrong.

Hayate came to a realization. All that thinking of his dream and the clues that he picked up had him lacking in social interactions. He remembers this also wasn't the first time it has happened either. He sighed. What has happened in Athens was not what he wanted to happen again. He looked up to the sky.

"Sorry about that, Nishizawa-san..." he said. "I had a dream..." Ayumu's ears rang into listening-mode, "but whatever has happened in that dream, might've been real..."

"Hm? What kind of dream?" she asked. _'Cool!' _she thought, hiding her excitement. _'We're actually having a conversation!'_

Hayate recollected the thoughts that went through his mind all day. That feeling of warmth embracing his body, that soothing whisper in his ear, that soft hand rubbing against his...

Face! Hayate put his hands on his face as he blushed furiously. "Uwahhhh!" he yelled.

Ayumu stared at him with signs of worry. "Wa... was it really a dream?" she asked. She continued to stare at Hayate panicking. "Or... was it a nightmare?"

Hayate, too red to show his face, couldn't tell her what happened. _'This is inappropriate to talk about! _he thought. He then realizes the possibility of her still liking him. _'Uh-oh, she is the last person I'd want to tell my dream about!' _Recovering from his embarrassment, Hayate uncovers his face and looks at Ayumu with a nervous grin. "Hey, Nishizawa-san," he said to her, "let's race!" He drops his bike and makes a full sprint home.

Ayumu stood there confused. She then gets on his bike and starts pedaling after him.

"H-hey! You can't leave a lady behind!"

* * *

Hinagiku walked out of the bathroom, wearing her pajamas with a towel wrapped around her neck. She thought having a bath with the idol would make her feel better about earlier. Boy, was she wrong.

She looked down at her clothing to see it laying flat around her chest, then looked at the clothing wrapped around the idol's curves after she too walked out of the bathroom. Even with clothes on, she could tell just how much more she lacked than Ruka. Hinagiku cringed.

_'God_damnnn_,' _she thought, _'That idol has got some big ti-'_

"Thank you so much, Hinagiku-san!" Ruka said, interrupting her thoughts. Feeling enthusiastic and motivated again, she hugs her, pressing her chest heavily against her's. "I feel so much better after talking to you!"

Hinagiku felt the round weights shift against her chest. Her face got really red. "Uwahhhh!" she yelled. _'This isn't fair at all!' _she thought. Her eyes have gotten watery, believing there's no way she could win against Ruka with _those._

As Hinagiku struggled to resist her humilation, she heard the front door shut open and close. Nagi arrives home.

"I'm back!" she yelled. "With some new material!"

Suddenly the front door opens again. Revealing Hayate and a tired, sweaty Ayumu.

"Hayate-kun! Right on time!" Nagi said out of excitement. Hinagiku quickly looked across the hallway as she heard that name. She then hears Nagi ask Ayumu panting heavily. "Hamster, what the hell happened to you?"

Ayumu exploded. "We raced! Hayate was so fast and I couldn't catch up... even on a bike.." she said as she set the bike down and lazily headed towards the bathroom to bathe herself.

Hayate watched as she went. _'Hopefully she forgot what she asked just then,' _he thought. Maria walks into the crowd.

"Ah, since everyone's here, we can start having dinner," she said, then looked at Hayate. "I already prepped everything just as you wanted. I'll leave the cooking part for you, Hayate-kun."

"Thanks, Maria-san," he said. As he was about to start walking towards the kitchen, Hayate's eyes suddenly met with Hinagiku's glance as she stood across the hallway next to Ruka. His eyes widened. Time froze again. Hinagiku felt Hayate's gaze at her. His eyes were telling her something. _'Uh-oh..' _she thought. _'Does he know now...?' _She couldn't move. She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't hear Ayumu muttering hi to her as she walked past her to the bathroom. She couldn't hear the big white tiger outside picking his nose. All she could see is how Hayate's eyes widened at her.

Maria and Ruka glanced at one another, then looked at each other with a slightly confused look.

_'It must be about this morning...' _Maria thought.

_'It must be a showdown,' _Ruka thought differently. She panicked. _'I should do something before someone gets hurt!'_

Ruka decided to interrupt their staring contest. "Ahem-hem!" she exaggerated her cough loudly. Hayate and Hinagiku snapped out of their senses back to Violet Mansion. Hayate turned around, hiding his flustered face and quickly walked to the kitchen. "Soo..." Ruka begins to ask to Maria, "What are we having for dessert?"

Hinagiku, quickly hiding her blush, joins in on the conversation. "Ah yes! Maria-san, you always have great dessert!" she added. "I'm excited for what we're gonna have for dessert!"

Maria gave an anxious laugh with a sweatdrop. She could see why Hinagiku is acting this way, but decides to play along. "Well, it's something you've never had for a while," she said. "Melons!"

Hinagiku cringed again. She looked down to her chest again with an agonizing expression.

Ruka got excited. "Really?! What kind of melons?" she asked.

"Honeydew!" Maria replied.

"I love honeydew!" Ruka cheered. "They're just so nice and juicy! I also like how round they become when they grow in the most perfect sizes!"

"Since they went on sale too, I don't see why anybody wouldn'thave them!" Maria responded. She then realizes that Hinagiku is missing. "Eh? Where did Hinagiku-san go?"

Maria and Ruka then spotted Hinagiku, trembling in the corner of the living room with her back turned away from them.

"Melons...?" Hinagiku muttered to the corner. She gripped the walls. "What melons..."

* * *

The roommates all dined together under the aroma of chicken stew, rice, oer d'oeuvres and vegetables on the side. Besides laughters and yells heard across the table, not a single word was said between Hayate and Hinagiku, althought they were sitting right next to each other. Maria, being the only one who noticed, raised one of her eyebrows at them before she went to the kitchen to prepare dessert.

"So, Ruka-san," Nagi asked across to her, "Will you be staying here again?"

Hayate engages into the conversation. "If you would like to, I'll go prepare a room for you right away."

_'Which means Hayate would move back to the attic...' _Hinagiku thought. She analyzed the butler's kind behavior.

"Wow, that's nice and all..." Ruka timidly replied, "But I must leave in a couple days to prepare for my next tour in Europe..."

"O-oh..." Nagi muttered, saddened that she may not collaborate with the idol for her next sketch soon.

"But I could stay for tonight!" Ruka said out loud. She then looked at Hayate, before she looked away and turned as red as a tomato. "I wouldn't mind staying over... just for one night..."

Both Hinagiku and Ayumu, sitting across from one another, spat out the bits of rice at each other's faces out of surprise. Nagi, too young to understand such body language, questioned everyone's reaction. Chiharu sat back to be entertained while Alice and Kayura left the dining room to watch TV.

Ayumu laid on the floor, after taking over 9000 HP points of damage to her confidence.

_'That idol is sexy AND straightforward,' _Hinagiku thought. She pictured those two sharing a bed together. She turned red before the picture progressed and shook her head. _'No! This can't be happening!'_

"Well Ruka-san..." Hayate says slowly. The girls all prepare to hear his answer. "I'll go prepare your room right away!" he said with a smile.

Chiharu crashed to the floor, amazed at how dense Hayate really is. _'Baka!' _Hinagiku thought, then sighed of relief. _'Although, that was a close one...'_

"No! No need to..." Ruka said to him. She pokes her index fingers at each other and glances up to him. "I just wanna share a bed so..."

Hinagiku hit the floor as well. _'That idol does not give up_!_' _she thought. She looked up to see Hayate speechless with his blush exposed, which made her head steam out of jealousy.

"Then you can share one with me!" Ayumu exclaimed, recovering from her fall as she slams her hand flat on the table.

Ruka sweatdropped. "U-uh, well I meant-!"

"We can talk about boys, watch movies, and have pillow fights!" Ayumu interrupted. "SLEEP WITH ME." she said with a straight face.

"Ooh! I wanna join!" Nagi shouted. "Can I please, Maria?" she asked as she saw Maria walking into the room with a plate of cut melons.

"Well..." Maria said as she wondered. _'From what it seems, it looks like Ruka-san wants to be with Hayate,' _she thought. She looks at Ayumu, then at Hinagiku, who is sitting there glaring at Hayate. She sighed. _'Hayate-kun sure is the popular type...'_

"Since it's finally the weekend," Maria continued. "Might as well..."

Nagi cheered. Ruka sighed after feeling misunderstood, but then smiled. After all, she wouldn't mind sleeping over with her friends.

Hinagiku scolds Hayate. "Hentai! I know what you were thinking!" she whispered to him. "Don't you dare think of anything weird!" She wants him to delete that image out of his head right away.

Hayate chuckled, completely denying it. "W-what are you talking about?" he asked, as he inserts a mouthful of melon pieces to his face. His eyes widened at the sweet taste. "Wow, these really are good! Hinagiku-san, you should have some melons!"

_'I don't think he should have said that...' _Maria thought, remembering Hinagiku clutching the wall earlier. She observes Hinagiku saddening her look as she glanced at Ruka talking to Ayumu.

"Forget it!" Hinagiku said. She flustered, feeling really embarrassed, even though she knew what Hayate was referring to. "I'm not a fan of melons anyways..."

"Would you like raisins instead? Nobody wanted them since we had some, so I figured we could-"

WHACK. BOOM. POW.

Was the sound heard from the television Kayura and Alice were watching a romantic comedy on. At the same time, Hinagiku left the room to wash her angry red face, leaving the girls looking at Hayate laying on the floor with a big bruise on his head. Maria shook her head.

* * *

Hinagiku washed off the few remaining pieces of rice on her face. She looked up and stared at herself in the mirror. She then looked around to see if anybody was around, before she anxiously pulled her arms closer together, trying to see if her chest could pop out or not.

It was still flat. Hinagiku twitched. She noticed how even Ayumu has a well developed body. She's never felt confident with Ruka and Ayumu around. She felt like she was in last place. _'Ruka would definitely be number one' _she thought. She walks the hallway to her room, only to run into none other than...

"Ah, Hinagiku-san," Ruka says her name with a smile. "Will you be joining our slumber party at Ayumu's room?" she asks excitedly as she constantly moves her hips left and right.

Hinagiku gawks at her curves. _'Please... stop torturing me...' _she thought. She saddens. _'Seeing her like this won't make me feel better...'_

"Sorry Ruka-san..." she answers before she yawned. She also had a terribly long day since the incident this morning. "I'm really sleepy, so I don't want to ruin your time with Ayumu and Nagi."

She looks at Ruka pouting. _'Damnit, she's even sexy when she pouts!' _she thought.

"But don't worry! Ayumu and Nagi are really fun to be around!" she said, successfully cheering up the idol.

"No worries then," Ruka replies with a smile. "I'm really happy we talked today, Hina-chan." She walked into Ayumu's room and turned her face to Hinagiku's. "You know..." she said to her. "You're really an amazing person. If you were to like Hayate-kun, I would definitely lose to you."

Hinagiku twitched. "Hmph! W-with that boy? G-g-give me a break," she denies out of her frustrations earlier. Her face then changes to a frown. "Besides... Hayate-kun has no reason to like me..."

"Oh, you're right," Ruka said, "You're always mean to him. There's no way he'd like you!" she laughed.

Hinagiku's face dropped dead as Ruka shut Ayumu's door.


	5. Fantasy

_Author's note: Hi guys, sorry for the long update, though it's given me a lot of time to polish this chapter._

_FestusFlare: Sorry, I can't help but be a bully at the moment :P_

_NoKillPlz: Thank you for your kind words! I hope you are able to see my latest chapters now._

_IarIz: I really can't understand what you're trying to say, sorry..._

_Rhapzody: Glad you enjoyed my torture! (that sounded wrong lol)_

_Please do leave some reviews for this chapter. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you guys will enjoy reading it as well!_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Fantasy**

"One ninety six, one ninety seven, one ninety eight..."

As he counts every exhausting rep, Hayate continues his set of situps. The butler has finished all of his errands for today and then some for the next morning. Given his night off as his mistress enjoys her night with the girls, Hayate spends his Friday night making sure he stays fit for his job.

"One... ninety nine..." he yelps as he struggles to his last rep.

"Two hundred!"

The blue-haired boy laid back down on the floor. Panting heavily, sweating like a bowl of ramen, Hayate smiles. Working out has been one of his very few ways of relieving himself. It has also helped him get over his recent dream.

He gets up, grabs a towel and his fresh clothes. Before proceeding to the bathroom. Hayate peeks through his door to make sure no one can see him shirtless. Clear. He runs towards the corner before taking another peek around. Clear._'There's the door!'_ he thought. He makes a full sprint to the bathroom door, only to see it open before he could even reach it. Hayate's bare feet couldn't stop and slid instead. Hayate closed his eyes upon impact.

Crash.

Clothes flew everywhere down to the floor. Slowly opening his eyes, Hayate can smell it again. _'Strawberries...' _he thought. His head laid on something warm... and beating fast. Hayate looks up, meeting a pair of golden eyes staring back at him.

"Hi.. Hinagiku...?" Hayate asked as he trembled and blushed in fear, realizing that his head has been pressed against her chest for some time. He watches her slowly raise her left hand. _'Uh-oh, her impossible-to-avoid left hand at almost every end of our episodes!' _he thought. He closed his eyes again to embrace another impact.

Five enduring seconds has passed as Hayate continued to shake in fear. Not a hit or a sound was made. Wondering why he hasn't been hit yet, he opened his eyes again to see Hinagiku shaking and looking red as a tomato.

_'Hayate's body is... not feminine at all,' _Hinagiku thought. This was her first time to see a boy shirtless, yet this boy happens to be the one she loves, laying against her body. She could feel his hard masculine upper torso press against her soft and self-hated body as she continues to stare at his eyes. Their faces are just inches from each other. This was too much for her. She closed her eyes and drifted out of consciousness.

Her hand fell back to the floor. "Eh? Hinagiku-san?" Hayate asked."Hinagiku-san!" Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming behind him. He turned his head quickly to see Alice, looking down at the couple with a blunt look.

"Ah, A-Tan, this isn't..."

"Don't mind me," Alice said, "Just keep pretending to treat her as your lady." She turned and walked towards her room.

* * *

She slowly opened her eyes to find herself in her bright lit room. _'How did I get here...' _Hinagiku thought as sat up straight, trying to regain her memories of what she has done earlier. She was talking to Ruka and felt even more conscious of her body, then she went back in the bathroom to measure herself to see if she had grown at all. After she was done, she opened the door and...

Hinagiku blushed at what had happened after. _'Why am I always in these love-comedic situations with Hayate?!' _she thought. She then heard her door open. She turned head to see a shirtless butler holding a tray of green tea.

Stunned by seeing his well-toned body, Hinagiku couldn't hide her blush. "Ha-Ha-Ha-Haya-ya-ya..." Hinagiku stuttered as the butler walked closer and sat down next to her.

"Thank goodness you're okay..." Hayate said in a worried tone. He set the tray down and got close to her face. Hinagiku froze, surprised to be this close to him like this. "Hinagiku-san, something about crashing into you made me realize..." She looked at him pause. "Well, how would I put it..."

_'Is he confessing?' _Hinagiku thought. She noticed his blush. _'He is!' _Shocked and excited to see him this way, Hinagiku grabbed his widened his eyes at her action.

"Hayate-kun... I have something to confess too!" she said boldly. "I.. I love you!"

Hayate remained to look shocked, "Hi-Hinagiku-san, I never thought you'd think of me this way..." he replied.

"I have," she said. "For a long time, Hayate-kun. I have always loved you..." She smiled at him. She finally did it.

"But Hinagiku-san, I don't feel the same way about you," he said, slowly removing his hands from hers.

Hinagiku's face stunned. "Eh?"

Hayate looked boldly in her eyes. "I love Ruka-san!" he said to her. Hinagiku remained stunned. "Wh..what?" she muttered.

He repeated. "I love Ruka-san! She's awesome, never hits me, and has those _gorgeous_ curves!"

Hinagiku didn't know what to say. '_He liked Ruka all along?' _she thought. Tears began to build in her eyes. She felt the way he described Ruka was nothing like her.

"I hate girls with flat chests!" he said loudly. "You'll never grow up to have a sexy body like Ruka-san!"

Tears ran down Hinagiku's face. She's never seen this side of Hayate before. "Why...?" she asked him as she began to sob. "W-why are you being so mean?"

Her closet slid open, revealing a little blond girl jumping out of her bed. "Hinagiku-san," Alice called. _"Wake up."_

* * *

She slowly opened her eyes to find herself in tears and in her dark room. Tears have come down to her throat. Hinagiku quickly sat up and gasped for air.

She looked around her room to see no one around except for the girl in her closet. _'It was... a dream?' _she thought. She's never dreamed of something so cruel for a long time. _'I'm thirsty...' _The taste of salt from her tears made her throat run dry. She looked at her clock to see that it's midnight. Hinagiku wiped off her tears and headed towards the kitchen.

As Hinagiku walked along the hallway, she couldn't help but replay her nightmare. _"I hate girls with flat chests!" S_he cringed. Thinking that Hayate would reject her in such a way made her heart ache.

_"Maybe he and I aren't meant to be..." _she heard a voice coming from Ayumu's room. _'That's right. They're having a slumber party,' _Hinagiku thought. _'That voice sounded like Ruka... Was she talking about Hayate?'_ She sneaked closer to the door and pressed her ear against the wall.

_"You think maybe he likes someone else?" _she heard Ayumu ask.

_"Duh! Of course he only likes me," _hearing Nagi. Hinagiku sweatdropped.

_"You know, he's been staring at Hina-chan quite a lot..." _Ruka said. Hinagiku turned red. _'Me...?' _she thought.

_"I noticed that too!" _Ayumu commented. _"Like that time in the hallway. She was staring back at him too..."_

_"Hina would never like Hayate!" _Nagi yelled. _"Someone that masculine and a chest that flat would never fall in love with him!"_

Hinagiku twitched. "Why that little..." she muttered. "Enough about my chest already!"

"Hinagiku-san? Is that you?" she turned her head to the voice at the corner of the hallway.

"Hayate?" she called as he walked towards her. She checked him out; he wore a grey tank top along with a pair of olive training shorts. She sighed of relief, seeing his defined shoulders instead of his entire bare torso. _'Thank goodness he's not shirtless.' _she thought.

_'Hinagiku-san looks... really damn cute,' _Hayate thought. He looked at the pink-haired girl slightly bent over against wall, wearing a really loose cyan tank top, unable to tell whether she wore shorts underneath or not. He watched Hinagiku stand up straight before he could see what was above her loose neckline. He looked away timidly, shaking off his impure thoughts.

She noticed Hayate looking away and got irritated. "Eh? Why are you looking away?!" she asked. _'It better not be about my flat chest!' _she thought.

"Well, I..." Hayate paused, unsure of what to say next, "I almost... saw your boobs from here..." he said nervously.

"H-hentai!" she loudly whispered to him, realizing what she was wearing. "It's hot, you know!" she said before blushing for a moment. _'So it was about my chest!' _she thought. She noticed Hayate having trouble staring at her. _'Is it really that bad..._'

"I told you so many times, Hinagiku-san," Hayate said, "You need to be more modest! If you showed up like this around other guys, they'd be falling for you right away!" He glanced at her one more time, unable to take his eyes off of her. _'What am I saying...' _he thought. _'I don't blame her. She really looks good in that tank top...'_

Hinagiku covered her mouth, quickly hiding her smile. _'Was that a compliment?' _she thought. _'He noticed that I _do_have a chest!'_ She's gotten a little happier for her body.

_"Did you hear that?" _she then heard Ayumu ask. _"Yea, it sounded like someone's outside..." _Ruka replied.

_'Oh crap,' _Hinagiku thought, hearing footsteps coming towards the door. She quickly grabbed Hayate and dragged him towards the kitchen. Nagi peeked her head out of the door to see no one around.

"Meh, it's probably my dumb cat picking his nose or something," Nagi said before shutting the door.

* * *

Hayate began to prepare hot green tea with milk while Hinagiku sat at the counter since she just told him that she was thirsty after waking up. It was unusually quiet for the two of them. They can both feel some slight tension, especially for just being the two of them alone in this moonlit kitchen. Hayate decided to speak.

"Um... about earlier," he said while poured the hot contents in the cups, "Sorry for crashing to you. I carried you to your room after you passed out."

Hinagiku blushed. She wondered whether Hayate was carrying her while he was shirtless or not. She decided not to ask about it. Hayate sat down next to her with their cups of hot green tea milk on the counter top.

"So Hayate-kun..." she asked, "What are _you _doing up this late?"

"I couldn't sleep," he said. Hayate paused for a moment. The reason why he couldn't sleep was because he was still thinking about this morning. He looked at Hinagiku sipping on her milk tea. He wanted to know so bad.

"Hinagiku-san... where were you to be late from this morning?" he asked.

That question caused Hinagiku to take quite a large sip of the milk tea. She coughed out the scorching heat coming down her throat.

"I was..." she paused. She couldn't think of anything at this moment. _'Crap!' _she thought. "I was, uh..." She stared down at her cup of milk tea between her hands, blushing and not knowing what to say.

_I was embracing you... _

Was all she wanted to say. There was no one else around at this time, but Hinagiku felt a huge lump of fear in her throat, scared to have the same result from her nightmare.

_'I hate flat chested girls!'_

Sudden tears built up in her eyes. Hinagiku realized and quickly got up, but Hayate also got up and grabbed her wrist before she could run away.

"Hinagiku-san, what's wrong?" he asked.

Hayate looked at her while he held her wrist. "Let go!" she yelled, vigorously shaking her arm, but failed to break free from his strong grip. Hayate grabbed her other wrist and faced her as she kept shaking. "Hinagiku-san please! Tell me what's wrong!" he said to her, trying to look into her eyes that are shut with tears.

"No!" she yelled. She can't help but think of what Hayate said to her in her dream. "There's obviously everything wrong with flat-chest women like me!"

Hayate got confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"Baka! I know you just want women like Ruka or Nishizawa-san! Unlike me, they're nice and have gorgeous curves!" She just wanted someone in the house to suddenly pop out right now, to interrupt their love comedic situation as usual. But this wasn't comedic to her right now; right now is pain. Tears rolled down her face.

Hayate twitched. This lady had no idea what he really wanted.

"Hinagiku-san, there's nothing wrong with flat-chested women like you!" he said to her as he struggled to keep his grip. "Nonetheless, I think you're the prettiest of all girls I've ever seen!" He felt her stop shaking. _'Crap!' _Hayate thought. _'Why did I say something so embarrassing?!' _Hinagiku's eyes opened up to his, revealing him the two most gorgeous golden eyes he's even seen under the moonlight. Hayate blushed at such a view. His hands unconsciously fell off of her wrists.

"You're... you're lying," she whimpered. Hayate smiled and gently began to wipe the tears off of her face. "No... I'm not." he answered back. He felt the warm tears on her soft face as he delicately wiped them off with his fingers. Hinagiku closed her eyes and smiled, feeling his warm hands rub against her face.

Hayate wiped most of her tears off and slowly let his hands down. Hinagiku suddenly grabbed his left hand before it left her face. With her eyes still closed, she tilted her head against his hand and held it there. _'It feels so nice right now...' _Hinagiku thought.

Hayate blushed. Her soft hand holding his against her beautiful face almost had him losing it. "Your hand is so warm, Hayate-kun..." he heard her say in a soft tone. Hayate's mind suddenly melted. Nervously with his hand resting on her face, Hayate gently caressed her cheek with his thumb. He watched her smile as a response. Hayate smiled too. Whatever feelings they were sharing at this moment, felt like they were both in paradise. Hinagiku just wanted to stay like this a little longer. _'I don't need to know how he feels right now,' _she thought. _'At least we can be together like this...' _

Hayate felt her weight suddenly fall against his hand. Hayate grabbed her before she even fell. Her head against his chest yet close to his face. Hinagiku slowly opened her eyes to his. "I had a long day..." she muttered, "Put me to bed, butler..." She closed her eyes and laid against his chest. Hayate once more blushed and smelled the scent of strawberries again.

"H-hai, milady..." he whispered to her. He picked her up and then carried her to her room. He did not need to ask anymore. He realized that he clearly wasn't dreaming this morning. It was all real. _'It was just too good to believe in,' _he thought. He arrives to her room and gently puts her down to her bed. He looked at her one more time, only to see pink hair in the way of her eyes. Hayate's hand slowly reached for her face.

_'I hope that one day, you will be the one stroking through my hair while I'm asleep...'_

And so he did. As he strokes through her hair, Hayate processed a lot of thoughts going on through his head.

_'I like you a lot more than I thought...'_

Hinagiku was quite the girl when he first laid eyes on her. No doubt, she was the most beautiful girl to fall out of a tree then into his face. It was only natural to believe that she would never fall for a troublesome guy like him, so he decided just being friends was best for them.

_'And quite honestly, you are perhaps my best friend...'_

He would often come visit her at the tower just to chat and she would come visit him at his job in the cafe when she has her time off. They would often confirm that they are not a couple when they are both seen together publicly. She would even come to his room late at night just to talk, even if he didn't need her help with his homework.

_'Now I'm falling for you... because you've always been there for me...'_

Hayate began to think of the consequences in his current state. He's had problems during his childhood, problems as a butler, and now he has an even bigger problem.

Ayasaki Hayate is in love with Katsura Hinagiku.

_'I should leave now...' _he thought. About to let go of stroking her hair, Hayate suddenly felt Hinagiku's hand on top of his.

He saw her open her beautiful eyes at him and heard her whisper.

_"Stay..."_

His eyes widened at her gaze at him. Hayate froze. She doesn't want the warmth to go away, and neither does he.

_"Hayate-kun, stay..."_

And so he did.


	6. Slumber Party

_Author's Note: Many thanks for all of the positive reviews I've received. Remember, without knowing your appreciation for this story, I would have never updated it considering I have a lot going on in my life right now. To my fellow reviewers: _

_Blitz36: Juggling through every character in the mansion is quite the challenge for me, but I'll keep trying my best to make you keep your word as well!  
FestusFlare: The ending definitely won't be as sudden like Cuties, I can promise you that. So hold on tight! _

_ NoKillPlz: I set this fic for T thinking it would reach a wider audience. If I were to make it M, I would make it a separate fic based between some future chapters, but we'll see how the story goes!  
Rhapzody: As mentioned in our private chat, it's quite the awesomeness to be looked upon as inspiration. Thank you so much again! _

_ NoName: Well, see for yourself now! lol_

_See you all again. Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter 6: Slumber Party**

"So if I were to weigh ninety-nine kilograms, then ate one kilogram of udon, would that make me one percent udon?"

"Hehe.. Hayate-kun, you idiot," Hinagiku laughed as she leaned her head against his chest. "Technically, it should be less than one percent as you would have already started digesting the food."

"Ah, you're right..."

It was a little past five in the morning. The sun still has yet to come and the two have carried conversations since waking up in each other's arms. They have yet to let go of each other.

They laid in this position beneath the blankets without words. Hinagiku still couldn't believe it. Her waist being wrapped by his arms while her hands were placed on his shoulders. She kept her head against his chest, hiding her blush and her smile from him, embarrassed to be doing such a thing, yet at the same time felt so good about it.

Hayate also had trouble looking back at her. For such a beautiful woman to cuddle with him was considered beyond his wildest imaginations and anything else he has encountered with women in the past.

The little girl sleeping in Hinagiku's closet muttered "You bastard..." in her sleep.

He ran out of topics to talk about. _'That awkward silence again...' _he thought. _'Don't know if I should leave now or not...' _One wrong move was what Hayate was afraid of. He did not want to upset her again.

"H-Hinagiku-san," he broke the silence, quietly speaking her name. She looked up to him timidly.

"Y-y-yes?" she struggled to speak out just as bad as he did. Hayate melted. Her golden eyes pierced through his heartstrings whenever she looked directly at him.

"..."

"Yes?"

"..."

"Hayate-kun?"

"..."

"Uh... Hayate-kun...?"

Hinagiku felt his arms loosen, leaving her body suddenly cold. She hid her sad look.

But then she felt his arms tighten around her waist instead, pulling her entire body closer to his. Chest to chest, legs in legs, just being able to hear each other's breath. Hinagiku panted. Her body temperature quickly changed from ice to lava. She looked up to Hayate, who was blushing just as red as her.

They laid still as the sun rose into her room. The sun opened a light between the two, slowly taking over their bed.

They continued to stare into each other's eyes, now glimmering from the sunlight. Hinagiku can see every part of his handsome face as she stared deep into his cyan eyes.

Hayate couldn't believe the girl right in front of him kept looking more beautiful than ever when she isn't mad. Whatever side she was showing now felt so irresistible. He closed his eyes and slowly leaned closer to her.

_'Wait... are we gonna kiss?!' _she thought. _'IN MY BED?!' _Her blush got even more red than it possibly could at such an impure scene about to happen.

She's never done this before, neither has she ever practiced, but she wants to do the best she can do for him right now. She closed her eyes too, with her mouth partly open, as she slowly leaned towards him.

Her door suddenly opened, revealing a young brunette with a dumbstruck look and a taller girl with short black hair.

"Look Sharna!" the dumbstruck looking girl said, "A couple! A couple about to kiss! A couple about to make this fanfiction possibly change to an 'M' rating! Especially since they're in bed!"

"Fumi-san, they can't do that!" replied Sharna, "It's-it's so... impure..." She blushed at the scene happening in her head as she stares at the couple.

The said couple immediately jumped out of the futon, sitting with their knees on the floor and facing away from each other on opposite sides of the bed.

"K-k-kiss?" Hinagiku muttered, sweating heavily. "We totally weren't gonna do such a thing!"

"Y-yeah!" Hayate added. "She just needed me to stay with her last night... that's all!"

"Well, our job ruining another scene is done," said Fumi. "Let's go home, Sharna." They left the two alone again and closed the door.

The two stayed where they are, unable to turn around to face each other. The moment they had was just impossible to reenact. The tension now was close to unbearable.

'_Of course we weren't gonna... and I shouldn't have,' _he thought, feeling ashamed of his actions after what Hinagiku said.

Hinagiku also felt uneased after what Hayate said. _'He's right,' _she thought. _'He was just doing me a favor in the first place...' _

Hayate slowly stood. "I should go..." he said.

"A-ah, yeah..." she muttered. She saddened as she heard his footsteps towards her door.

Hayate stood in front of the door, wanting to say something. He looked towards her, with her back still facing him. _'It wasn't right of me of to stay here like that...' _he thought. After all, he is a butler. If his mistress knew, he would be in big trouble.

Hinagiku still felt his presence. She wanted to say something too. She slowly turned her head to face him.

"Hayate-kun," she said. Her eyes looked away timidly as the boy gave her his full attention. "About last night, I... I didn't mean to trouble you. I just had a nightmare where you said mean things to me... then I got mad when I saw you again."

Hayate immediately understood. "I'm sorry..." he apologized.

"No! Don't be!" she said loudly. Hayate jumped a little, surprised of her snappiness. "You're not mean, Hayate-kun! You could never be... I'm always so happy for you to be here with me..."

"Hinagiku-san..." Hayate was loss at words.

"That's why my nightmare would never come true. So.. thank you," she muttered. She hugged her legs and buried her face deep in her knees, hiding her extremely flushed face from the butler.

He stood by her door now slid open. A few seconds of silence has gone by before she heard his footsteps again. She turned her head to her door to see him gone.

_'I guess that's as far as we'll ever come to...' _she thought. To see him gone from her doorway made her clench her heart tightly. Her heart and body felt cold again. _'Why did I fall for such a troublesome guy?' _she thought to herself. She turned her head back in front of her, only to catch Hayate's lips crash onto her's.

Hinagiku's eyes lit up. Warmth spread all throughout her body from head to toe. The warmth from Hayate's lips was so overwhelming, that her body felt numb and she fell back to her bed. Hayate felt her self pull away from him, regretting what he just done right before Hinagiku fought back, supporting herself up with her arms and pushed her lips back onto his with her eyes closed this time.

Hayate's mind exploded. Their kiss was so fiery and even more than it was when she's kissing him back. The taste of strawberries spreading all over his senses. So soft and wet that he felt like he was drowning in her lips. His eyes slowly closed as he was about to lose his consciousness into this abyss.

_'Am I... dreaming again?' _Hinagiku thought, with her eyes still closed. _'This is real, right?' S_he pulled back for air for a quick second before she planted another enduring kiss to his lips. She couldn't tell, yet she didn't care. How long has she been waiting for this? How deep were her feelings for him? She wanted him to know for just so long.

_'I'll do this... until I wake up then.' _she thought.

Hayate felt her arms wrap around his neck, pulling him against her body and over the futon. Surprised by her actions, Hayate couldn't stop melting. _'Hinagiku-san is...' _he thought. There was no word to describe her. That person he's been looking up to for so long, the smartest and most beautiful he's ever come across, the one who always gave him the best regards, is giving him the honors of sharing an intimate moment with her. His mind couldn't stop thinking whether he should be ashamed or happy to kiss a living legend of Hakuo Academy.

They slowly pulled away, with a long string of saliva disconnecting from their lips. Their eyes slowly opened up to each other, the abyss ending and revealing her room now in full bright sunlight.

"W-w-wow..." was all they could mutter in unison. After a few seconds of silence, they both began to laugh quietly. Both blushing from what felt like a couple of intense minutes, it was clear that their feelings have finally come across. Neither could express just how happy they were.

Hinagiku continued to laugh until she saw a figure above Hayate's shoulders, standing in the open doorway and holding a broom.

"M-Maria-san?" she called. Hayate stopped laughing and turned around to look at the still maid behind them. He facepalmed himself, forgetting to close the door.

The maid kept her composure, yet had trouble speaking after standing there for the past five minutes.

"Br-br-br-breakfast i-is r-read-d-y," Maria stuttered. "But I s-see that you two already had s-some."

The couple blushed at what she meant. Before either of them could say anything, Maria sprinted away.

It was past six in the morning and a new day has barely begun.


	7. Life Keeps Going

_A/N: Very sorry for the long awaited update. Lots of RL events happened, but I did happen to write a lot of material during the time! I appreciate everyone's patience!_

* * *

**Chapter 7: Life Keeps Going Whether We Want It To Or Not**

The young maid rubbed the sand out of her eyes as she lazily sat up from her bed. She stared at her clock to see that it was exactly six in the morning. Her sleep timing was perfect as usual. She gets up and change, from her lavender night dress to her usual white and blue maid uniform.

She walked through the hallways of the large and old-fashioned apartment, to notice an unusual amount of dusty footprints. She sighed.

_'People these days...'_ she thought. _'One of the rules here is to always take_ _your shoes off upon entering!'_

She grabbed a broom from a nearby closet and and began brushing each footprint off, following the trail it lead to a room, which had its door slid open.

_'I found the culprit!' _she thought. She jumped in the doorway ready lecture whoever it was.

"Ah-(_ha-! Oh my...)_" She covered her mouth before she was heard. Maria froze with an awestruck look at what she's seeing.

_'Hayate is kissing Hinagiku!' _she thought as she watched the two touch lips._ 'Does he wanna die?!'_

She watched by surprise as Hinagiku suddenly wrapped her arms around him and started kissing him back, pulling his body towards her futon and laying on top of her. Maria blushed at the such scene. 'S_o bold!'_ she thought. _'Such passion as well...'_

Maria has never kissed in her life, and there she is watching perhaps her only chance of ever kissing a guy slip away. She couldn't help but keep on watching, as this was her first time to see a couple kiss in her very own eyes.

_'Sharing a bed again... kissing...' _she thought suspiciously. _'Don't tell me they do this every night!' _Her head continued to be filled with steamy thoughts as she watches Hinagiku land another kiss to the butler.

_'Oh... you lucky girl,' _she thought, watching Hinagiku give in to the butler, imagining how it must have felt. _'Although I've known that you've liked him for some time...' _Maria gripped her chest. _'I kinda wish I were you right now...'_

If there was one thing that Maria wanted to experience, it was her youth. Given the time working with the butler, she's built a bit of imaginations around him.

_'I really wish I were you right now... because he's been wanting you for a while as well,' _she thought. _'I guess Hayate-kun does have youth in him after all...'_

Her train of thoughts were interrupted as she heard the couple in her view laughing together. She then meets eyes with the pink-haired girl looking over Hayate's shoulder.

"M-Maria-san?" she called. Hayate turned around to look at the still maid behind them. He facepalmed himself, forgetting to close the door.

The maid kept her composure, yet had trouble speaking after standing there for the past five minutes.

"Br-br-br-breakfast i-is r-read-d-y," Maria stuttered. "But I s-see that you two already had s-some."

The couple blushed at what she meant. Before either of them could say anything, Maria sprinted away.

_'Those two are definitely love birds!' _she thought as she ran into to the laundry room. _'If I won't have youth... then I must at least protect theirs!'_

Hey eyes suddenly burst into flames as she began laundry duty.

* * *

It was then seven in the morning. The sunlight gave the kitchen a full bright atmosphere and was filled with the aroma of crepes being cooked over the pan. Hinagiku enjoyed the smell as she sat by the kitchen counter as Hayate prepared breakfast in front of her.

_'This is too good to be true...' _she thought. She rested her head on her palms as she watched the butler cook her breakfast. _'A great morning and a great breakfast... both happening because of him.' _The warmth that has made it throughout her body was still there. Amazed by how long this sensation can still last, she wondered, _'I'm not dreaming still... right?" _She gave herself numerous pinches to her cheek to make sure whether or not she was dreaming.

"Hinagiku-san, how would you like your crepes?" he asked, flipping the crepe on his pan, cooking its other side. "With chocolate syrup or with strawberries?"

He watched her pinch both sides of her cheeks vigorously. Hayate sweatdropped. "Ano... what are you doing?"

"Ah-ah, nothing!" she quickly replied, instantly putting her hands on the table. "I'll have it with chocolate syrup!"

"Haha, of course it would be chocolate," Hayate chuckled. Hinagiku gave him a glare.

"Heyyy! What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"It just fits your tastes."

"Oh, my 'boyish' tastes, huh?" She rolled her eyes. "Don't you like chocolate too?"

"I do, but I'll be eating mine with strawberries," he answered.

"I didn't know you like strawberries," she said.

_'That's because I never knew how amazing it'd be...'_ he thought as he glanced at her. _'Until I tasted you...' _Still remembering the subtle taste from her lips that has kept him wanting more of that flavor.

He flipped the crepe out and onto a plate, filling it with whip cream before he folded the crepe closed and swizzled chocolate syrup on top, before he set the plate down in front of the pink-haired girl.

"Wow, this looks amazing!" Hinagiku said.

Hayate poured another serving from his batter to his pan and watched her take her first bite. He watched her enjoy the sweet taste of chocolate, along with the creamy filling of whip cream and the salty soft bite of the crepe.

"Hayate-kun, this crepe is delicious!"

He watched her lick her lips surrounded by some of the syrup smeared over. Hayate gulped. He replayed their kissing scene over and over in his head, blushing as he could not stop looking at her lips as she licked them bite after bite.

_'Hinagiku-san's lips were so...' _he traveled through his trail of thoughts. He can remember her lips as very soft, vibrant, wet, and warm. He could still feel the tingling sensation in his lips, along with the subtle taste of strawberries that he never seemed to get rid of. The kiss wasn't all he had looped in his mind, but also the way she grabbed him that caught him most by surprise.

_'Is Hinagiku-san... experienced?' _he thought. _'Considering her social status, she is quite popular. Wouldn't she already have done it before...?' _Hinagiku was well known as one of the smartest and prettiest girls of Hakuo Academy, who could get along with just about anybody. Hayate recalled her even winning beauty of the year, though she was completely against the idea of 'such a popularity contest.'

"Ne, Hayate-kun..." Hinagiku interrupted his trail of thoughts. "Your crepe is burning."

He snapped back to his surroundings, including the crepe on his pan which is then set on fire.

"Oh! Uwaaahh! Shi-!"

After a couple minutes of panicking and a burnt crepe, Hayate sighed. He damned himself to let the kissing incident distract him since they now traded places. He sat by the counter as he watched the pink-haired girl in front of him making crepes.

"Seriously, Hayate-kun..." Hinagiku said. "You need to pay more attention to the little details happening around you."

"I'm sorry, Hinagiku-san..." he said, now laying his head on the table, for what felt like the hundredth time apologizing to her.

_'I wonder if he was also thinking about earlier...' _she thought. _'Did he... not like my kiss?' _Her eyes widened as she watched the butler lay his head down.

_'What if he didn't?!' _she thought. She also replayed the scene over and over in her head, remembering how she approached to his lips. _'I give him some really long pecks in return! Those are good, right?'_

She processed her thoughts of any doubts Hayate would have. Suddenly, she remembered that night. The night that has never made her feel so cold.

The night when Hayate left her for that woman. Her mind was quickly filled with jealousy and disheartening as she imagined the two together again.

_'No, it can't be good! Hayate dated Athena!'_ she thought._ 'With that kind of woman, he _must_ be experienced!' _Hinagiku gripped the pan harder. _'How long have they been together? How much did he love her?' _She turned red as she pictured his relationship with the beautiful chairman progress. _'How did they kiss...?' _she wondered. _'And how many times? And for how long?!' _The fact that Hayate had dated such a beauty that prestigious drove her mad_._

The blue-haired boy finally sat up from his self-punishment after sniffing something unusually familiar. "What's that smell...?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes. It sure wasn't strawberries.

_'Don't tell me they used tongue!' _she thought even deeper, completely oblivious to her surroundings.

"Hinagiku-san!"

"Y-y-yes?!" Hinagiku loudly freaked out. She looked back at her pan, which is you guessed it; now on fire.

"Aah! Shi-!"

After another couple minutes panicking and the smoke detector going off this time, Hinagiku and Hayate both sat at the counter now, both letting out a long sigh as they watched someone else cook the crepes for them.

"Seriously, you too..." the lady said. "You both need to be careful in the kitchen!"

"Yes, Maria-san..." Hayate and Hinagiku said in unison, who both shared a disappointed look.

_'Youth at this age is a bad thing after all...' _the maid thought. _'I guess my time can wait a little longer then!'_

The day continued as Nagi and the other girls have woken up to the burnt smell of breakfast. Hayate, Hinagiku and Maria silently agreed to not bring up the event of this morning. Then onto lunch and then the afternoon carried on like usual. In the evening was when Ruka was ready to leave for another tour. Hayate and the girls all said goodbye to her.

* * *

Thus, the weekend became busy ever since. Hayate worked long shifts at the cafe while Hinagiku worked on school-related projects. Due to the reputation of Cafe Donguri rising and the lack of skilled employees, Hayate could not spend as much time as he wanted outside of the cafe. The weekend agenda continued on top of the weekday schedule and became overwhelming for everybody.

The student council president sat on her throne at the top of the school tower, exhausted from the amount of work that has accumulated over the week. She sighed as she resumed her work, filing every student council related documents in place.

"Geez... why must I be responsible for all of these," Hinagiku said, "Chiharu and the others should have helped too." She laid her head down on her desk.

She sat all alone in the tower with the orange sunset right out of her balcony, setting the orange atmosphere all over the president's room. As warm as it looked, Hinagiku's body stayed cold. She knew he couldn't come visit again.

_'It's been days since I've seen him...' _she thought. Not seeing him at the apartment, she had a very different schedule, not even being able to go to class as the student council group needed her within the tower. She pulled out her smartphone and opened her texting app. _'I know he's busy, but...' _She heard the door opened and quickly looked up from her phone, excited to see who might visit her.

"Oh, it's just you," she grumbled, before going back to her documents.

The gray-haired girl at the door slumped at her response. "That's mean..." she muttered.

"Sorry, Chiharu-san," Hinagiku replied. "I'm just really exhausted from all this work..." She paused before her next words could slip. _'And I was really hoping it would be him...' _she thought, a little saddened that she has not seen the boy since their incident.

"Well, I came here to help you finish these papers," Chiharu said. "You haven't been working as efficient, Hina-san."

"Don't worry, I can finish this by tonight."

"Are you sure? Don't you want some time off to be with Hayate-kun?"

Hinagiku slammed her hands at the desk.

"W-w-w-w-w-what?!" she nervously asked loudly. Chiharu chuckled.

"You're obviously thinking about him," she said. "It's all over your face! I know all about it."

Hinagiku began to sweat. "About what?!" she responded.

"About you sleeping with Haya-!"

Chiharu suddenly had her mouth covered by the student council president's hands. They froze in this position as they heard footsteps come towards the room. Three other student council bodies kicked the door open and entered the room.

"Did you hear that, Miki?" asked the tall girl.

"Yeah, Risa. I totally heard something about Hina sleeping with somebody." Miki replied. "Izumi, what do you think?"

"I just heard Hinagiku likes to sleep higher!" Izumi said. All the other girls in the room sweatdropped.

They watched as Hinagiku covered Chiharu's mouth.

"You're not hiding something from us, are you...?" Miki asked her, while her the two girls next to her stared deep into her soul. Hinagiku began to sweat.

"O-o-of course not!" she said, lying through her smiling face. She turned her head to Chiharu, giving her the that threatnening look on her smiling face."Isn't that right, Chiharu-_chan?_"

Chiharu gulped at Hinagiku's expression as she was able to read her options from her deadly eyes: '_Option 1: You die if you tell them. Option 2: You will die later nonetheless.'_

She trembled as she spoke to the three other girls. "Y-yeah... you guys totally heard something d-d-different."

The three girls continued to look deep in their souls. After a few seconds, they all turned around and walked away.

"Dang, what a bummer..." Risa said, while Chiharu and Hinagiku were able to hear their conversations as they walked away.

"I really thought I heard about Hina-chan kissing that Hayata-kun..." Miki said.

"Really? No way someone cool like Hina-san would kiss that loser..." Risa replied. Hinagiku sweatdropped as she heard that comment.

"I don't even think Hayata-kun likes her!" she heard Izumi said. "I heard he likes women with beautiful round chests who are also frail so they can be embraced with his love and affection!"

Chiharu quickly pulled Hinagiku away from chasing the girls. "Calm down, president!" she said.

"Those little-!" Hinagiku shouted. She slowly stopped trying to escape Chiharu's grip and gave up. Chiharu let her go and watched her walk back to her desk and take a few deep breaths. Her deadly eyes turned to honest as she looked at Chiharu.

"Nii-Chi..." she called. Chiharu blushed at her sister nickname. It would only be rare to be called of that from her best friend.

"Would Hayate and I... look bad as bad couple?"

Chiharu thought for few a seconds. She looked at Hinagiku's sad eyes, along with her blushing face, waiting for her response. She knew exactly what to tell her.

"Yeah, you two would look really bad together," she responded.

"Is that so...?" Hinagiku asked. Chiharu watched her turn her head looking even sadder.

"You're at the top of your game, Hina," Chiharu said. "Hayate is stuck way below the bottom and would only burden you from your bright future. You know very well why he's the Sanzenin butl-"

"I don't care about that!" Hinagiku shouted. "He makes me feel ways I never could before!" She paused for a second. "Without him..." she muttered. "I feel like I won't have a future..."

She suddenly heard snickering from Chiharu. "What's so funny?" she asked her.

"Aww..." Chiharu said. "You know you're so cute when you're confessing girly things, right?"

Hinagiku blushed. "You were just playing along to see how I would react?" she asked.

"Of course... haha, priceless!" Suddenly, Chiharu stopped laughing as she felt killing intent from the pink-haired girl.

"B-b-but I didn't mean what I told you!" Chiharu quickly tried to explain. "I think you and Hayate-kun would look great together!"

Suddenly, the killing intent is gone. Chiharu instead felt overly sized bubbles in bright colorful backgrounds surrounding her and the pink haired girl.

"You really think so?" Hinagiku asked, suddenly from looking angered to being very happy. Chiharu melted at Hinagiku's sudden change from her glare to die-hard puppy eyes.

_'What the heck?!' _Chiharu thought. _'Since when has the student council president become this adorable?!'_

"Let's finish these papers first before I die from your cuteness..."

* * *

"Order number two-thirty-three!" the butler now cafe associate shouted into the crowded cafe. "Thank you sir, enjoy your drinks!" Hayate cheerfully said as he gave a customer their order.

"Hayate-kun! Four french vanilla fraps, easy on the whip!" his boss shouted across from the register.

"Yessir!" Hayate replied, quickly walking back to his station. Currently working overtime, Hayate kept focusing on his job until all of the customers got what they wanted.

Several hours later, Hayate sat on the balcony outside of the cafe, exhausted from the amount of work he had done, including just closing the cafe after a long time of cleaning. He sighed as he began to rub his temples. He hated his schedule this week. Work has been gradually busier and more stressful. He made a long sigh, letting some of his inner frustrations out.

_'I should call Ojou-sama and let her know I've been working...' _he thought as he pulled out his cell phone, which he was unable to when he was too busy working.

_'What's this?'_ he thought. He suddenly felt his heart skip a beat. 'A_ text from Hinagiku-san...' _He opened up the message.

"Hayate-kun!" he heard his name shouted. He looked to the girl who shouted his name, standing by the cafe entrance and holding an apron similar to what he's currently wearing.

"Ready to walk home together again?" Ayumu asked.

"Uh, sure, Nishizawa-san..." he said as he got up and looked back at his message.

_I miss you._


	8. The End Of The World: A New World Awaits

_A/N: Wow! So many positive reviews! Thanks a lot everyone!_

_These chapters have gotten longer and will take more time for me to write. I may not preview well before posting, so if you see a grammar/spelling error, do let me know where it is and I try and fix it ASAP._

_Again, thanks for everyone's patience!_

* * *

**Chapter 8: ****The End Of The World: A New World Awaits**

_"I miss you."_

_"A... A-Tan..."_

_He sat on his bed on this late night, as he held his phone close to his ear, hearing the subtle sounds of sobbing coming from a goddess on another side of the world._

_"It's not fair..." Athena said. "Why are you around so many pretty girls while I'm staying alone...?"_

_"They're my house guests..." he replied. "It is my duty as the house butler to serve them."_

_"Lies!" she yelled loudly, enough for his phone to hurt his ear. "While in Athens, you seem to treat that Katsura girl really different from the others and she's not even your mistress!"_

_Hayate blushed. "It's nothing like that, I swear!" he said. "She has no interest in me whatsoever! I was just returning her a favor!"_

_"By laying on top of her on a cliff before taking her out for dinner?"_

_"Yes!" he paused for a second, realizing his idiocy with words. "W-wait, no! Not that first part! That was an accide-"_

_"Yeah! I bet it was!" she said._

_"A-Tan...!"_

_There came a moment of silence in their conversation. He heard her sigh._

_"I'm sorry I yelled," she said. "But I can tell when a girl likes someone. Hayate-kun, that girl is really onto you."_

_Hayate made a straight face. "A-Tan, that's not really funny," he said in a serious tone._

_"Eh?"_

_"You shouldn't make jokes about a respectable student council president who's very popular with boys and even girls in academy, to even consider an indebted, nice-guy butler, who doesn't own any swag nor experienced ratchetness that attracts young girls like her."_

_Another awkward silence._

_"Oh..." her voice trailed to the static silence of his phone. _

_"See?" he asked. "You have nothing to worry about." _

_Athena spoke. "Um, okay then. I believe you, I guess..." He heard some doubt in her voice, and something about not knowing 'what's a ratchet.'_

_'Although...' he thought. 'Hinagiku-san and I have been talking a lot recently...' His mind wondered to where this could lead. He quickly shook his head, unable to believe in such a fantasy._

_"Besides, I'm sure that there are some nice men in Athens that have been seeking a lady like you," Hayate replied. "You probably just friend-zoned all of them."_

_"..."_

_"Hello?"_

_"Baka."_

_"Eh? A-Tan? What did I say?!"_

_"You think I want to find someone new?" she asked. "Idiot..."_

_He listened to her sob again._

_"You're just saying that so you can be with her..."_

_Hayate blushed once more. He wouldn't believe in Hinagiku falling for him, yet he couldn't understand why that statement made him unable to reply._

_"I still love you, damnit..." she said._

_There he sat on his bed, recalling everything that has happened between him and his former mistress. From taking her hand upon meeting her in a field full of white flowers, to the fight where he almost sacrificed his life to save her from possession to take the King's Jewel, to their final goodbye where they've finally had closure, after all these years of heartache both had held over the years._

_Tears suddenly rolled down his face without realizing. His hand holding his phone to his ear began to shake._

_Hayate began to sob. "Why..?" he asked between his sobs. "Why must you tell me now?"_

_"I can't help it," she said, still sobbing. "I lied about having loved you and couldn't handle it. I still love you..."_

_"Damn you..." he whimpered. A sudden glimpse of a pink-haired girl came into his mind. "I was doing my best to get over you, and now you're telling me..."_

_"I'm sorry, Hayate-kun..." she said. Her sobs became more apparent. "I love you... say it back, please..."_

_"Y-y-you told me it's bad to cry like this..."_

_"Please Hayate-kun... I love you. I love you so much..."_

_He laid his other arm over his face, trying to wipe the limitless amount of tears rolling down his face._

_"Hayate-kun..."_

* * *

"Hayate-kun?"

He long stood in front of Violet Mansion as his mind wandered into a different world that had already ended.

"Hayate-kun!"

Hayate rubbed his temples, also shaking off the vivid memories before seeing Ayumu staring right at him.

"We're home," she said with a worried look, opening the front door for them.

"Ah, sorry..." he apologized. He went in after Ayumu and began his house duty.

_'We haven't spoken the entire time walking,' _she thought. She looked at the sad expression on his face as he left to the kitchen._ 'The same behavior... when we all were in Athens...'_

"Hayate!" Nagi called, running to her butler in the kitchen. "Look, Hayate! I finished my latest chapter to my manga!"

Ayumu watched as his sad expression quickly changed into a happy one.

"You did?" he asked. "Nice! I'm excited to read it!"

She watched Hayate read Nagi's manga outloud. She slowly made a small smile.

_'To be able to hide his sorrow from his master,'_ she thought. _'That's probably another reason why I admire you so much...'_

"Well, dinner is ready everyone," Maria said, standing by the dining table. She looked at her proud work of seafood paradise laid all over the table. Crab legs, shrimp fried rice, lobster tails, and a tray of garlic bread all prepared. She notices a couple of seats still empty as Nagi, Kayura, Ayumu, and Chiharu all sat themselves down. Chiharu noticed at her looking.

"Hina-san will arrive shortly," age said. "I just got here not too long ago. She wanted me to finish student council-related work ahead of her, but she should be here really soon."

Maria looked beyond the walls to her side. "I just heard her walking in her room, so she must have arrived here already," Maria said. She turned to the butler. "Hayate-kun, can you please go and tell Hinagiku dinner that is ready?" she asked. She gave him a wink, turning the butler's face blush red. Chiharu saw the scene, so she also teased the butler and gave him a little smile.

"Ano.. ah.. h-hai..." he said as he nervously walked out of the dining room. _'What should I do?' _he thought. _'I haven't even replied to her text because I was thinking too much!'_

He walked to her door, opened it and went inside, right when he realized why he should always knock first. Hayate instantly closed his eyes upon realization.

"I'm so sorry, Hinagiku-san!" he shouted. "I shouldn't have walked in while you're changing again!"

"Ah, so that's what you always do..."

Hayate opened his eyes after recognizing that voice. His open eyes met the little girl with long ribbon blond hair who is now grown to a full-sized woman.

"A...A-Tan..." he muttered. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Surprise to see me again?" she asked. Hayate turned really red as he couldn't stop staring at her.

"Y-yeah..." he said. "Especially when you're wearing _that." _He pointed his finger at her clothing. Athena looked down to see her extremely tight, six-years-old-sized uniform wrapped around her developed curves. The long socks she had as a six-year-old were now ripped apart, revealing her long legs to the not-so-misfortuned butler.

"D-d-d-don't look at me!" Athena shouted, turning beet red as he stared at her. "I look like a stripper!" She quickly turned around, covering her entire front side.

Little did she know, she just revealed something else to the butler.

"A-Tan! Your skirt! It's too short! Now I can see your entire b-!"

Back in the dining room, while everyone else is eating, the girls all heard and felt a sudden impact coming inside the house.

"Was that an earthquake?" Maria asked.

"No, that sounded more like Hayate walking into Hinagiku changing again," Kayura replied while she ate her crab legs.

"Oh yeah, but that impact..." Chiharu added.

"It's only normal when they're in love," Kayura said.

Nagi and Ayumu both spit out their food at Kayura from what they just heard. "Whaaaat!?" they both shouted.

Kayura remained content as usual, despite the amount of rice and pieces of seafood all over her face. Maria made an anxious laugh as she wiped off the content on Kayura's face.

"Didn't you guys hear the noises in the kitchen last Friday night?" Kayura asked. "It sounded like fighting at first, but then it was actually them making up the whole time."

All the girls in the room remained quiet, all madly blushing at such a statement.

_'Oh my...' _Maria thought. _'They do it everywhere!'_

The silence broke with a clang as Nagi dropped her spoon onto her plate.

"They did it in the kitchen?!" she shouted. She sat up from her chair, about to walk out of the dining room. "I'm gonna kill him for betraying me!"

"Uh, Nagi... I was describing their fight from a verbal manner," Kayura said. "Not a sexual one."

_'Ah, of course...' _Maria thought as she sweatdropped. _'They haven't done anything like that, I think...'_

"... I'm still gonna kill him!" Nagi said.

"Wait, Nagi-sama!" Maria shouted. _'I will not let even Ojou-sama interrupt their youth!' s_he thought. She had an idea. "It was actually just me rehearsing a scene from Ruka-san's manga..." she said. "With Chiharu-san!"

Kayura raised an eyebrow. Chiharu almost spat out her food in surprise, but instantly understood what the maid is trying to do.

"Ah yeah, Maria-san and I enjoyed Ruka's love comedy manga," she said, feeling anxious about lying. "I was impersonating the male character in the scene."

"Really?" Nagi asked. "Let's hear your male voice then."

Chiharu gulped, but decided to try anyway.

"Ahem..." she started speaking. _"Ojou-sama, wake up! It's time for dinner!"_ she said in a perfect Hayate-like voice.

"Wow, that was good!" Nagi said, very impressed. "When you said that, I almost felt like Hayate was waking me up again!"

Chiharu, Ayumu, and Maria all sweatdropped.

"That was pretty good, I agree," Kayura said. "But then again, Hayate-kun does sound like a girl sometimes. What I heard really did sound like they-"

"Stop talking," Maria said, exposing Kayura to her lethal smile. "You shouldn't talk with your mouthful, Kayura-san."

Kayura gulped.

* * *

"You better not open your eyes when you get up," Athena said.

Hayate laid down on the floor with a big bruise smoking on top of his head.

"I.. Itai..." he expressed pain to himself. He slowly stood himself up with his eyes closed again.

"Well, aside from my original clothing," she spoke. "It seems that those three months of collecting Shirosakura's energy brought me back to normal."

_'Hinagiku-san's sword...' _he thought. He suddenly recalled his last scene with the fully grown Athena.

_I want to tell you so much, but I have no more time..._

"A-Tan," he called her. "What exactly is going on?"

He heard her footsteps coming towards to him. Hayate, with his eyes still closed, nervously stood still as the woman in a tight child's dress walked closer to him.

"I can't tell you," she said. Hayate felt her subtle breathes against his lips as she spoke.

"W..why?" he asked.

"We've gone way too far ahead of the actual chapters to know."

"What?"

"Nevermind!"

He felt a sudden presence behind him, as if the door had slid open by a little.

_'A-Tan left?' _he thought.

Proven wrong, he felt her weight press against his body. Hayate opened his eyes right when her lips was an inch apart from his. He froze as she waited for him to proceed, unable to move and not knowing what to do as a voice screamed into his head.

_'You should be able to figure that out yourself!'_

Athena waited for his action with her eyes closed, but it never came. She slowly opened her eyes to him and noticed his nervous expression. She let go of him and backed up.

"Sorry..." she mumbled. "It's... not right."

She looked at his innocent face turn away from her. She can see the guilt he must feel after rejecting her.

"It's okay..." she said. "You can agree that this isn't right. You _should _agree."

Hayate looked at her once more. He gulped. This time, he will not mess his words.

"A-Tan, I know that one day you will find someone," he said. "One who deserves you a lot more than I did..."

Athena chuckled. "You're just saying that so you can be with-"

"I am," he put it bluntly.

Her eyes widened at his sudden response. Shocked and hurt at the same time, she covered her mouth with her hand, which trembled uncontrollably

"That doesn't mean I stopped loving you!" Hayate said. "You'll always be my first love and I'll never forget that!"

Hayate looked at her tremble with tears. Whenever she cried, it would be because she would be angry at him. But this time, it's much worse.

He held her.

Athena sobbed into his shoulder, feeling the warmth of him like it would be her last time.

"Y-you'll..." she whimpered. "You'll always be my first, too!"

Hayate began to let go. Athena, failing to pull him back, had her arms raised, trying to reach towards him, seeking more warmth from him, seeking everything she has had with him.

"Don't leave me again..."

He smiled at her. Of course he doesn't want to leave her. "Then stay," he said. "You're becoming a crybaby much like me now."

Athena laughed a little. "Baka..." she muttered. She wiped her tears herself and sat on her bed inside of Hinagiku's closet.

"Can I have some time alone?" she asked. "For a few minutes..."

"Of course, you may," he appropriately answered. "I'll go ahead and bring you some tea in the mean time."

Hayate leaves the room. Before he closed the door, he looked at Athena one more time, watching him leave the room with a sad and concerned look.

He recalled an old memory of him and her like this. Somewhere, in a castle...

_'Promise me that you'll come back! No matter what!'_

"I'll come back here," he said to her. "I promise."

She smiled as Hayate left to the kitchen.

"Thank you..." she whispered.


	9. Collision

_A/N: Started school. Been focusing on RL__but luckily I'm still able to manage! Thanks to everyone for your support! Your support keeps me writing!_

* * *

**Chapter 9: Collision**

Sitting on her council chair, Hinagiku finally hit 'send' on her messaging app.

_'If you miss him that much... then you should just tell him so.'_

_'Chiharu's right,' _she thought. _'I should be more straightforward with Hayate-kun.' _She thanked Chiharu for the advice before she was earlier dismissed. Hinagiku grabbed her backpack after finishing her documents and exited the room.

As she walked into the elevator, she began hoping that someone would show up behind those elevator doors. Nobody showed. As she reached down to the main floor, she began hoping for the elevator doors would open to someone asking her out to the movies with tickets on hand. Nobody showed. As she exited out of the tower, she hoped that someone would still be standing by the trees to enjoy the scenery with her. Again, nobody showed.

Hinagiku sighed. He would always show up before he had to work.

_'Life got... busier,'_ she thought. She wanted to see him again, at least once for the week would be enough. So she ran. She ran to Violet Mansion with excitement, hoping to see him and make her smile at least once to make her week.

But when she finally opened her door to her room, she did not smile. She couldn't even hope after what she was seeing. There stood the butler she missed so much in front of her, with another girl wrapping her arms around his neck, both with their eyes closed and their faces leaning closer to one another.

Hinagiku stood speechless. She carefully closed the door and turned around. She went outside and took a deep breath. It couldn't be right. Hinagiku turned around and went back inside. Standing stealthily behind the door, she heard otherwise. She heard his voice.

"You'll always be my first love and I'll never forget that!"

She heard subtle sobs coming through from behind her door. She assumed it must be Athena.

"Y-you'll..." she carefully heard her whisper. "You'll always be my first, too!"

Hinagiku heard even more sobbing, only to realize that it was her own.

She immediately turned around and quietly left the mansion, walking out of the front entrance and maintaining her content look, despite the tears uncontrollably rolling down.

_'Who is she to you, Hayate-kun?'_

_She stood on a sidewalk on a similar night, waiting for his answer, watching him stare deep into the ground. Her mouth shook open, enforcing the belief that this must be her chance._

_'She is the person... that I love.'_

Unlike that night, she could not hold back her tears.

* * *

"Hayate! What took you so long?!"

The butler walked into the dining room, nervously laughing as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, well..." he muttered. _'How can I convince Ojou-sama that there is a grown woman who's my ex-girlfriend in a tight revealing outfit in Hinagiku's room?!'_ he thought. He doesn't know where to start. Kayura noticed him sweat.

"So what color was her underwear?" she asked him.

Hayate blushed, remembering when Athena turned around in his eyes. "Ah well, it was um..."

Nagi twitched. After a big smack to the his head, Hayate gave a brief explanation to the girls.

"So Tennousu-san is back to her real form..." Chiharu said.

"And you peeked at her underwear?!" Nagi yelled at her butler. Hayate covered his head and kept apologizing before he could get hit again.

"We should welcome her," Maria added. "Athena-san hasn't met all of you girls."

"Ah, now's not a good time. A-Tan is not feeling so well..." said Hayate. "By the way Maria-san, you referred A-Tan by her first name. Are you two particularly close?"

"Ahh well..." Maria muttered. "We met ages ago, which is also another long story that our manga author will not explain to us yet."

Hayate and all the other girls responded in unison. "Eh?"

"N-nevermind!" Maria yelled at them, blushing from their constant stares.

"Ano, I'll make her tea and then go check on her then," Hayate said. Nagi yanked him by the belt.

"Oh no, you don't!" she yelled. "Not when she looks like a stripper!"

"Ah! Of course I wouldn't go in there's when she's dressed like that!"

"Speaking of her room," Maria said. "Why isn't Hinagiku-san here, yet?"

Chiharu pulled out her cell phone. "Ah, yeah," she said. "She left me a message a while ago. She'll be staying at her mother's place tonight."

"Really? Did something happen?" Ayumu asked.

"I'm not sure," Chiharu said. "She said that her job babysitting Alice here is done."

_'Her job here is done...' _Hayate thought. His eyes widened. _'Could it be that it was her who opened the door earlier?'_

"I guess she must have known already and decided to stay at her home since it's late, it being closer to Hakuou," Maria said.

_'Crap...' _Hayate thought. _'If she opened the door, then she must have seen...'_

"Excuse me guys, I have go," he said, quickly walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey!" Nagi shouted. "I said don't go peeking at that lady!"

Nagi heard the front door shut.

"H-hey! She's in Hina's room! Not outside!"

Hayate ignored her and kept running outside. _'If I don't see her right now...' _he thought. _'Then I'll suffer more consequences than just disobeying milady!'_

To make this moment more dramatic, Hayate began to feel subtle raindrops dropping everywhere around him. He sweatdropped at how well it fits this desperate scene. He continued to run through the town's shopping valley, as stores each begun closing as the rain stormed harder.

He ran until he reached her doorway. He looked at her window to see it covered by blinds, yet leaking a little light from the room inside. He then noticed Hinagiku behind the window. She may have not noticed him, but closed her blinds fully. Hayate gulped and walked up to the front door.

Knock knock.

He waited patiently, hoping Hinagiku or even her mom would answer. The door finally opened, revealing someone he couldn't recognize. It was a man, presumably in his 40s, a little taller than the young butler, with grey hair and a cigarette in his mouth. He lifted off his cigarette and spoke.

"Hello," he said bluntly.

Hayate couldn't help but stare at his coolness, but he quickly shook his head and began talking.

"U-uh.. hi! Mister, uh..." he trailed off, unsure if this man was Hinagiku's father or not.

"Mister Katsura," the man said. "And the next time you want to greet someone you're not familiar, you should always introduce yourself before learning the other person's name..."

Hayate shrunk as he stared Mr. Katsura's subtle yet lethal glare.

"S-s-s-sorry, Mr. Katsura-san!" Hayate said, amazed from the familiar fear he got. _'He may be scarier than Hinagiku-san...' _ he thought. He took a deep breath and spoke again. "My name is Ayasaki Hayate, and I came here to see Hina-"

"She's sick," the adult interrupted. "Now's not a good time to-"

"But it's important!" Hayate said. "If I don't tell her now, she'll-"

"I _said_ my daughter is sick," Mr. Katsura said with an intense glare. "Now beat it."

Hayate quieted himself and gulped. Suddenly, he hears a familiar voice.

"Honey! What's taking so long?" Mrs. Katsura said as she walks up and peeks over his shoulder. She gasped.

"Hayate-kun!" she called with a happy face. "Are you here to try on my outfits?!"

Hayate sweatdropped. "N-no, Mrs. Katsura-san!" he said. "I'm only here to see Hinagiku-san because-"

"Oh! Could this be why she's not feeling well?" she awkwardly interrupted. "Did you two have a fight?"

Mr. Katsura stared at her. "Fight?" he asked. "Maggie, is this guy her boyfriend?"

"Yes!" she replied. "You should see Hina-chan's face every time I mention him to her!" She placed both of her hands on her cheeks, twisting and turning as she replayed the scene in her head.

Mr. Katsura unconsciously dropped his cigarette. Hayate blushed and panicked at the same time. "W-w-we're not t-together!" he stuttered out. "No! I mean-! We done stuff but we-!"

Suddenly, Hayate felt his collar pull him up towards the air. Mr. Katsura held him up and gave him the deadliest look in the eyes.

"You're saying that you... touched my daughter... and hurt her feelings?" he slowly asked, staring deeply into Hayate's soul. Hayate felt a dark energy strangling him. This was no ordinary grasp that he could easily escape from.

"Honey, you're gonna hurt him!" Mrs. Katsura shouted. Her husband didn't listen and continued to stare at the butler he's holding with his one hand. Hayate saw the eyes of the man turn from brown to a glowing purple. Hayate's body became engulfed with a glowing purple energy. His vision started to blur, slowly losing his consciousness. He heard loud footsteps followed by another familiar voice.

"Otousan, stop it!"

_'Hinagiku... san...'_

His vision turned completely dark.

"Stop! Please!" she cried louder. "He's not worth it, Otousan, please..."

As he drifted off to darkness, he heard her voice one last time.

_"Okay... I'll go. Please..."_


	10. His Memories, Her Words

**Chapter 10: His Memories, Her Words**

Athena sat up straight from her little bed, sitting on it with her legs hanging out of the closet. Gone are the tears as they have eventually ran out, leaving her cheeks both dry and red. She blew her nose with a napkin once more and began to think of other things in attempt to mend her broken heart.

_'Was this really where I slept?' _she asked herself, adjusting herself on this little bed. _'There's no way I'd sleep in there comfortably now...'_

She processed her thoughts to what she could remember as 'Alice.' Very little could be remembered besides sleeping all day and other lazy activites. _'All I can remember is being tired...' _she thought. _'And a dog. A really big white dog for some reason...'_

_'Katsura Hinagiku...' _she thought. _'You're the one who's taken his heart now...'_

She got out of her bed and walked around in the bedroom. _'This is her room...' _she thought. Aside from talking to her at Hakuo Academy as board chairman, Athena has known very little about the student council president. She looked around the room to learn more about the girl whom the butler chose over her. Dumbbells, kettlebells, a barbell, a jump rope, weight plates, and... a container of whey protein on her desk?

She sweatdropped at her surroundings. _'This isn't a girl's room...' _she thought. _'This is a home gym!'_

As she continued to walk around the room, her foot brushed against an object close by Hinagiku's futon. _'What's this?' _she thought as she picked up this certain object. She slowly examined the low profiled look on it.

It was a dictionary, in case you perverts were thinking otherwise. But Athena noticed something off. The weight distribution of this dictionary felt off. She opened up the book halfway through the pages to see that the insides had been cut out to encase a smaller book. She took out the smaller book and read the label on it.

_H Diary._

_'Hoho... so she is a woman after all...'_

She heard a knock on the door. Immediately, she hid the diary behind her as Maria walked inside.

"It's good to see you again, Athena-san," Maria said. She handed her spare clothes that fit for the night. Athena ignored the clothing handed to her and grabbed the maid's hands instead.

"Maria-san... it's been years!"

She hugged the maid, showing just how happy she is to see her.

"Our manga author really needs to explain our connection soon, right?" Maria asked.

"Oh, right," Athena agreed. "Because this is where the fan author is unable to explain what's going on between us, so he's moving on to the next scene."

* * *

Back to where the previous chapter ended.

_It was dark. It was dark everywhere._

_He couldn't breath. It was so hot that he felt his body burning alive. _

_He laid ever so unconsciously, not knowing where he was or what he felt, when the last voice he had heard echo'd him into the darkness._

_"Okay... I'll go... Please..."_

_'Go...? Go where?'_

_His mind flew everywhere, having wrapped around that familiar voice, looking for clues to where she would go, and replaying the memories embedded with that sentence, starting from where the memories truly began to shine..._

It was another sunny day at Hakuo Academy. The blue-haired boy sat outside on a bench, looking at the graded paper just handed to him from class. It was a D+, which could have a lot of meanings, such as a you're-pretty-dumb-but-at-least-not-F-dumb' D+ or a 'you're-not-really-smart-but-you're-really-close-t o-being-barely-average' D+.

This wasn't the case for him. He didn't even care. He damned himself to be able to blame someone, too. Hayate sighed.

Maybe if she hadn't called him, he would have studied. If she hadn't called him, maybe he would have gave some effort into this quiz. Maybe he would just focus better.

_'No... stop it,'_ he thought to himself. Thinking of and blaming her will do him no good. But Hayate cried in his mind. All he could think about for the past few days was her again.

He leaned his head back against the bench, staring at the bright blue sky, adoring the shapes that the clouds make surrounding the sun. He felt the wind calmly blow against his face. This was therapy for him. It was one of the ways to get his mind off of trouble. It was his personal drug.

And like a drug, it becomes addicting.

Hayate continued to stare at the clouds for the next couple of long minutes, his mind becoming completely blank until he suddenly sees black everywhere.

Hayate felt a pair of cold hands cover his eyes. They felt so soft and feminine as he felt the fingers also touch parts of his face.

"Guess whooo?" a voice asked in a disguised tone.

_'Hmm..'_ he thought. _'Who's hands have I felt before that has felt this soft and feminine?'_

"Ano... Nishizawa-san?" he guessed.

"Eh? No..." the disguised voice replied.

"Maria-san?"

"No..."

"Ruka-san? Ojou-sama?"

"Nah. Nah."

"Isumi-san?"

"No!"

"Hmm, well your hands are really soft and feminine..." he said. "All I have left to guess is Yukiji-sensei?"

The voice finally revealed its real tone.

"No, man! What the hell!"

"Oh, it's Hinagiku-san!" he said right after recognizing her voice. He turned around to see her standing behind him, only to see her look angry.

"Are you saying that my hands are not soft and feminine?!"

"I-I wasn't saying that! I just haven't gone through all of my guesses!"

"And you guessed that it would be my drunken sister before me...?" she slowly asked. Hayate froze sitting still as the pink-haired girl glared down at him.

"Ah-ah-ah," he couldn't speak, but he had to say something. "Ah, yes! Your hands _are_ soft and feminine! I remember! Like that one time, um..." he trailed off to silent.

Hinagiku sighed. "You don't even know..." she said.

She sat down next to him on the bench, sitting upright and with proper posture, compared to Hayate leaning against the bench, afraid of what she will do to him. With surprise, Hayate felt her left hand on top of his right.

"At least try to remember next time."

He looked at her looking away from him, unsure whether she was hiding a blushed face like his or not. Either way, Hayate couldn't believe it. He forgot what was making him sad from the beginning. Wait, who was he thinking about again?

"Hinagiku-san..."

He then felt her hand go under his, grabbing the sheet of paper that his hand rested on.

"N-no!" Hayate panicked. "Don't look!"

She analyzed over his problems. She then looked at him with no signs of anger or surprise.

"It's okay, it was a hard test," she said. She pulled out her graded test as well and showed it to Hayate. Her's showed a B-.

Hayate gave her a blunt stare. "Are you here to insult me or something?" he asked.

"Eh?! No! I'm just saying that I've never received a grade this low!"

She watched Hayate suddenly kneel by the nearby trash can in agony.

"That was... very insulting," he said. Hinagiku panicked over his behavior and began apologizing

Both sitting on the bench again after Hinagiku apologized, Hayate let out a sigh.

"It's no use," he said. "There's no way I'll pass the class at this rate. I need to ace the next two tests, which will cover the hardest subjects, and then the take final exam as well."

_'If only I could help you...'_ she thought. Then an idea struck her. _'Wait a minute! I can!'_

'Hayate-kun!' she yelled, startling the butler.

"H-hai!" he instantly replied, instantly sitting upfront. Hinagiku sweatdropped.

"How about I tutor you tonight?" she asked. She then blushed as she continued to speak. "You know... since we live together now and all..."

Hayate hid his face and looked away as he blushed as well. "Are you sure?" he asked in surprise. Hinagiku turned even redder.

"W-well, you're gonna have to pay me back in return of course!" she nervously said._ 'Yeah! Like a deal!'_ she thought._ 'That way he wouldn't think that I'm actually trying to get closer to him!'_

"O-oh! Right!" Hayate said, followed by a small and nervous laugh. _'Of course she wouldn't do it for no reason. She doesn't like me in that way...'_ he thought. He rubbed the back of his head over his silly thoughts. "How would you want me to repay you?" he asked. He watched her turn her head again.

"I don't know..." he heard her say. "What would seem fair to you?"

_'Hmm... how can I repay her...' _he thought. _'If she could tutor me at least twice a week, then...'_

"How about I treat you somewhere every week?"

For a few seconds. he waited for her reply, until her head turned towards him, with her eyes sparkled gold along with her serious look. "Would you really do that?" she asked him softly.

Hayate felt a melting sensation. His gestures couldn't properly follow as he moved his arms uncontrollably.

"Y-yes! I would definitely do that! To repay you!" he said out loud. "Totally! Yeah, aha..." In his mind, he knew he sounded like a complete idiot. _'Why am I getting so... nervous?' _he thought.

He then heard the tower's bell ring. The two of them both stood up as a reflex to the five-minute warning back to class. They both looked at one another as they nervously remained quiet.

Hinagiku spoke first. "So... tonight then?" she asked.

"Yeah... tonight."

Another awkward silence. She couldn't take it anymore.

"KAY BYE!"

He then watched her sprint back towards the student council tower, without even looking back at him. Hayate stood, feeling weird and somewhat excited about tonight. He turned around and walked the other way to his next class with his most recent event replaying in his mind.

* * *

After receiving clothes that fit for the night, Athena laid on a bigger spare bed in Hinagiku's room. She pulled out the book she hid and began reading the first page.

_Dear Diary, _

Athena felt guilt as she continued to read. _'Forgive me, Katsura-san, but your secrets are right here and I'm about to read them.' _She read the first sentence.

_I've had a lot of things on my mind with no one else to talk to, so I will write them here instead._

_'Okay,'_ she thought. She flipped to another page.

_Dear Diary, I'm totally getting the new *Phone coming this September!_

_'Meh.'_

_Dear Diary, I won my first power lifting competition! All the dedication I put, I-_

Athena sweatdropped. _'This is not a girl's diary...'_

She continued to quickly flip through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

_I want him so much._

_'Is it Hayate-kun...?'_

_I want him to forget about his ex. It's been too long since their breakup. I hate being by his side when he's depressed like this. The way he feels about her is the same way I feel about him..._

Athena remained quiet as those words sunk in.

_It just hurts._

_'A bit ironic now, isn't it...?' _she thought.

She flipped back a few pages, to see if she was missing anything. She found an event leading to what she just read.

_I hope we could be closer through this. I continue to tutor you while you take me out in return. It's not a date, I know, but all this time I've spent in the bathroom preparing for our night..._

**Diary Event:**

"Nagi-san, please take your bath... for the fifth time asking."

"In a minute, Maria! I'm almost done unlocking a new level on C*ndy Crush!"

Chiharu walked into the living room with a bath towel and sat on the couch next to Maria. "The bathroom's occupied, actually," she said.

"It's been occupied for more than half an hour," Kayura said, also playing the game on her smartphone on the floor next to Nagi.

"I need to peeeee..." Ayumu whimpered, crossing her legs tightly whilst struggling on the floor.

Maria put some thought out. "Who could be in the bathroom for this long...?" she asked.

"Well, it's definitely not Hina-san," Chiharu replied. "She takes showers even faster than men."

"Then it's probably Ayasaki-san," Kayura said. "I watched him eat that special D*ritos hardshell taco with extra hot sauce like it was nothing. Now he's paying the price."

All girls suddenly heard the bathroom door open. Steam creeped out of the bathroom and into the living room as the pink haired girl came out and walked to the living room's opening. The girls all dropped their jaws at the sight they were seeing. Her skin sparkled clean and shiny, her hair perfectly dried and smooth. She also wore an elegant black lounge dress cut up below her thighs.

"Sup, guys," she said as she casually sat herself down next to Maria.

"Hinagiku-san..." Ayumu muttered, staring at the girl with envy. "What happened to your onesies...?"

"And your sweats...?" Chiharu added, looking just as surprised.

"Just felt like I needed a change," she said.

Nagi stood up and suddenly left the room. "Maria-san, I'll go take my bath now..." she muttered, surprising her maid. Ayumu ran past her to the bathroom. "H-hey!" Nagi said, running after her.

"Hinagiku-san, is your father in jail?" Kayura asked.

"Eh?! No! My father just works very far away... Why?"

"Because if I were your father, I would be in jail."

The girls in the room all sweatdropped. Chiharu cringed. "Dude..." she said to her.

"What? I had to say it."

_'This may have been too much of a change...' _Hinagiku thought. _'Wonder what Hayate-kun would say...?'_

"Ah, Hayate-kun. Welcome back."

Hinagiku immediately turned around to see the butler in the house. She hid her blush as usual, but this time for the reason of having almost her entire bare legs exposed and slightly covered by a dress as short as her school outfit.

"Hi Maria-san, thanks," Hayate replied. He turned his head to Hinagiku. "Hello, Hinagiku-san," he greeted.

"Hi," she greeted back shyly. Maria noticed.

"I'm going to take a shower soon," he said. "Then we could meet up in my room afterwards. Is that alright?"

"That's fine," she said. "I'll be waiting."

As Hayate left the living room, Hinagiku turned her head back to see Maria, Chiharu, and Kayura all stare at her with surprised eyes. Maria let out a little tear.

"What's wrong, Maria-san?!" she asked.

"Nothing," she said. "It's just... that you're gonna become a truly happy woman so soon..."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Seeing you dressed up like that and getting invited into Hayate-kun's room..." Chiharu said. "Please tell us this isn't what it looks like."

"Oh it's exactly what it looks like, right Hina-_chan_?_' _Kayura added.

Hinagiku finally understood, then immediately turned red again. "No! You got this completely wrong!" she said. "I'm just gonna tutor him since he really needs help to pass math class!"

"Ehh... is that so?" Maria asked, feeling relieved after hearing that.

"I guess that's believable," Chiharu said. "Hayate-kun didn't even say anything about how sexy you look right now!"

"This isn't really sexy..." Hinagiku said. She considered the fact Chiharu had stated. _'Hayate-kun really didn't say anything. Does he not see me in that way...?' _she thought with a saddened look.

She continued to wonder whether she made a mistake or not, deciding whether or not she should change back to her old pajamas, but realize that changing again would cause suspicion. Before she knew it, she was already in Hayate's room, standing and looking over his shoulder as he worked on his math problems.

Hinagiku sighed, feeling like an idiot after having to go through such effort of actually trying to look nice. _'It's no use,' _she thought. _'He's been really serious with his homework. He doesn't even see me as sexy... or anything attractive like Chiharu said.'_

Hayate turned his head around after hearing her sigh. He noticed something about her.

"Gomen, Hinagiku-san," he apologized. "I didn't notice it until now, but..."

_'H-he noticed?!' _she thought, blushing as he continued to stare at her.

"Do you want a chair? You've been standing behind me for quite a while."

She fell and hit the floor in complete loss of hope. At this rate, tonight would be no different than the next.

"N-no... I'll just continue standing..." she muttered.

"Eh?! But you just fell! Won't you get stiff for standing too long?"

Another challenge proposed? No, but sadly Hinagiku thought otherwise.

"Me? Stiff? Ha! Not a chance..." she said to him proudly.

"Ah, okay then," he replied, returning to his homework.

_'Psh, why do you care?' _she thought. _'Would you even offer me a massage if I were stiff, anyway?!'_

About an hour later, Hinagiku yawned. It was getting late, and trying to get his attention was completely useless at this point. Hayate completed all of his homework.

"I hope I helped you well..." she muttered.

"You did! Thank you so much!" he said. He looked at his clock and had a grin on his face. "Wow, I finished earlier than I thought. Hinagiku-san, you're amazing!"

_'At least he praises me,_' she thought with a little smile. _'I guess that's good enough...'_

"Now I finally have some time to catch up on Br**king Bad!"

Hinagiku became fully awake upon hearing what he just said.

"I love Br**king Bad!" she said. "I finally made it to season four last weekend!"

Hayate looked surprised. "Me too!" he said. Hinagiku looked surprised as well. They both gave a high five to each other.

"I'm about start watching episode three of that season," he said. Hinagiku noticed him pause for a few seconds before asking her. "Would you like to stay here a bit longer and watch with me?"

She stood in disbelief at what she just witnessed. She couldn't help but form a little smile on her face.

_It wasn't what I expected, but I was so happy that night. It was perhaps another one of those night where I've fallen even deeper for you..._

"I'd like that."

She had a new goal in mind. Homework will never be finished late anymore.

Hayate brought out his laptop and set it on futon, where he pushed it by the wall so they both sat comfortably and had the wall to lean on.

"Oi, Hayate-kun, I haven't watched the second episode, yet..."

"That's fine. I'll watch it again with you..."


	11. Best Friends

**Chapter 11: Best Friends**

_Days after the diary event..._

"Ne, Hayate-kun."

"Yes, Hinagiku-san?"

"Ahem... I mean, _H**senberg-san... c_an you pass me some of that bluestuff?"

"Eh...? Oh! _That _blue stuff! Haha, okay! _Ahem, now be careful,_ _J*sse-san. _That stuff is not good for us."

Nagi and Ayumu watched in confusion as they watched Hayate happily pass Hinagiku the bowl of blueberries as she giggled. Watching those two then laughing together, they immediately turned to each other and began whispering.

_"What's going on between them?!" _Nagi whispered. _"Mornings usually starts with Hinagiku hitting Hayate after seeing her changing!"_

_"I don't know!" _Ayumu whispered back. _"But seeing them in friendly terms kind of makes me suspicious!"_

"My my, you two have been getting along very well since last night," Maria said, walking to the table with a tray of tea. This raised even more confusion to the two curious girls, causing them to spit out blueberries to each other's faces.

"Hayate-kun!" Nagi yelled at him. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Hinagiku-san watches my favorite show, Br**king Bad, so we caught up by a few episodes together," the butler said.

She and Ayumu both blinked. "Oh," was said in unison. Nagi shrugged. "Meh, it isn't even as good as The W*lking Dead," Nagi said.

"No way, Br**king Bad is way better," Hinagiku said. "You probably haven't even gotten to season three!"

"I haven't; doesn't have zombies." Nagi replied. Hinagiku sighed at the little girl. As they continued to argue, Ayumu watched Hayate smile, noticeably towards the pink-haired girl, feeling envy once more. She had to say something to bring his attention to her instead.

"I-I I watch Br**king Bad too!" she said, lying terribly through her teeth. "I love season three!"

Hayate turned to her. "Really?" he asked her, as her eyes suddenly glimmered to his response.

"That's good."

He turned and cleaned the dishes, She loss hope to his blunt response.

The days for Hayate continued like this; regularly with school, work, then walking home with an unusually gloomy Ayumu. When he arrived every night, after finishing his butler duties and putting his mistress to sleep by midnight, he always felt a bit more excited to finally spend the rest of his day with someone he could connect with.

_"Hinagiku-saaan!"_ he whispered loudly to the living room from the kitchen.

She already knew what he wanted, instantly standing up from the living room couch and ran to his room.

"Let's goooo! Oh, goodnight everyone!" she shouted excitedly. Chiharu, Ayumu, and Kayura in the living room watched in confusion as the two ran into and shut his room. Kayura raised an eyebrow.

* * *

"Oh, I need to take a quick bath," Hayate said. He grabbed some clothes before leaving the room. "You can pre-load the next episode and make yourself comfortable."

Hinagiku frowned at the thought of him leaving her alone. She nodded nonetheless. "Sure," she said. Upon turning her head, she noticed a small shelf filled with CD's in his partly open closet.

"Hm? What's this?"

She walked over to his closet and pulled out an usually looking album from his collection. Its artwork simply had a big white "X" on a black background. Hayate turned to see what she held. He laughed.

"That happens to be one of my most favorite bands, The x*," he said.

She stared the minimal artwork and wondered about the odd named band. "Can I listen to them while you're showering?"

"Sure."

Hayate handed her his pair of headphones before leaving to the bathroom. She sat on his desk and listened through his laptop, beginning with the first track to the next. She closed her eyes and leaned against his chair, having already fallen for the mellow guitar strums and sampled drums, and understanding the lyrics clearly without actively listening. At one of the songs that she later came across, through every lyric directed towards somebody, as if every lyric was made to be relevant for the two of them, she thought of him.

_You mean that much to me, and it is  
__Hard to show  
__Gets hectic inside of me  
__When you go oh ohhh..._

Hayate walked back from his shower after she finished the song. "So, how are they?" he asked.

"They're amazing!" she said to him. "It sounded mellow at first but then it got really fun for my ears!"

"I'm glad you like them," he said. "I wouldn't think anyone would like my taste in music, aha..."

"Are you kidding me? It's great! Onee-san used to play stuff like this when I was little!"

_'Hinagiku-san liking the music I listen to... she's even more amazing than I thought...' _he thought. He felt an odd sensation. _'No no, I can't like her like this. She's just an open-minded person who dresses really nice when she tutors me... wait ,what am I thinking?'_

"Hayate! We need to see them live!"

He snapped back from his long thoughts about her. "They are on tour right now and are coming to Japan next week, but they're sold out already..." he said in a disappointed manner.

"Aw, man..." she said. "Oh well."

"Maybe we could go next year!" he suggested. He grabbed another album from his collection, with a similar artwork, and put it in her hands. "Feel free to listen to them."

He watched her smile fade into a frown. She looked more upset than usual.

"Hinagiku-san, what's wrong?"

_Can I confess these things to you  
__Well, I don't know oh oh  
__Embedded in my chest  
__And it hurts to hold oh oh ohh..._

"Next year won't work for me..."

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean...?" he asked.

She immediately shook her head. "It's a long story." She grabbed his arm and dragged him to his bed. "C'mon, let's catch up on this show."

_I couldn't spill my heart_

_My eyes gleam looking in from the dark_

_I walk out in the stormy weather_

They sat down on his bed once more and played another episode of their show. She leaned against his arm to make herself comfortable. Hayate looked at her casually watching from this position, with her head resting against his shoulder. He couldn't recall when they started sitting together like this, but heck, he wasn't complaining.

_Hold my words, keep us together  
Steady walking but bound to trip  
Should release but just tighten my grip_

* * *

It was a hot evening in spring, ninety-one degrees to be exact. So hot that a cold snack would be well its worth. One of the stores happen to specialize in frozen foods, and it was very well busy inside. A long line awaited to purchase their frozen yogurts.

"Okay, two Fr*yos for the total weight on this scale would cost... 1187 yen."

Hayate opened his wallet to see twelve hundred yen left. He gave the money to the cashier with tears of a poor man dripping on his last money.

"Wait," the girl behind him said. "Let me help you." She pulled out six hundred yen and handed it to him.

"But I'm treating you, remember?" Hayate insisted on paying himself, putting the money back in her hand.

"You don't really have to..."

He really didn't want to. However, he refused to let her pay. "Don't worry, Hinagiku-san," he said to her with a smile. "For what you've done for me, this is the least I can do."

And he meant it. Hayate felt like he could owe her a lifetime of service after finally understanding his weakest subject in school.

Hinagiku and turned her head away from him, hiding her slight blush. "Fine..." she muttered. The crowd in line behind them noticed the scene and began whispering to each other. The couple both sweatdropped at what they could hear on their way to a table outside.

_"Did you see that? Now 'that's' how you treat a woman..."_

_"His girlfriend must be so lucky to have such a wonderful gentleman like him..."_

_"Yutaka-kun, why won't you treat me so kindly for once like that poor-looking boy over there? You selfish bastard!"_

They sat down on a small table, both feeling nervous and awkward, as most small tables in the area seemed occupied by actual couples holding hands or having a deep conversation. They soon relaxed as the outdoor speakers played some music. Hinagiku spoke first.

"Thanks for the treat."

"You're welcome," he replied uncomfortably as well. "So.. what flavor did you get? I got tiramisu with pretzels along with some almonds and chocolate syrup on top."

"I got strawberry and vanilla frozen yogurt," she replied. "Topped with *reo bits, gummy worm, and strawberries."

Hayate gave out a small laugh. Her tastes would always surprise him.

"What?!" she asked.

"It sounds surprisingly girly!"

"S-shut up! Strawberry is an awesome flavor! You should give it a try, you know."

Hayate smiled. He didn't mean to tease her about her tastes, they just happen to make him question her about it. He watched her blush as she continued to eat, looking slightly annoyed by him.

"Hmm, I think I'll stick to my tiramisu and chocolate for now."

His eyes focused on her, starting with her sunglasses resting on top of her head. He could tell that she was either angry at him or rather embarrassed from the way she was eating. His eyes trailed down, down to her mouth licking the bits of *reo crumbs around on her lips, down to her tan and sleeveless dress, fashioned with a big brown leather belt around her slim waist, matched with a pair of long brown boots.

_'Hinagiku-san looks pretty cute when she...' _his thought trailed off to confusion. _'Wait, what am I thinking?'_

Hinagiku's sense of fashion has always made him admire her, especially when comparing to his simple casual jeans and a grey v-neck shirt. Lately however, it's been quite different. She's been more appealing, more... dare he say in his mind, cute?

Was the great student council president trying to impress the below average grade student? Hayate could not begin to think of such an idea. He always knew her as a gorgeous and incredibly clever girl from the moment he met her, and as time passed by, he's gotten used to seeing her that way, to the point that he was able to hide his urges from admiring her. He sighed. Last night wasn't easy. He remembered holding his breath right when he saw her in that dress when he arrived home. He had to act quick, greet everybody, then go to his room before gasping for air.

_'If I turned around that night...' _Hayate thought. _'My nose would have bled...'_ A true butler should never lust after anyone, especially those who trust him in his care, which was the reason why Hayate had a hard time talking to her. Hayate felt like he was betraying himself as he felt urges to suddenly approach her. He knew that there was nothing but physical attraction, not love. He shook his head and mentally slapped himself.

_'Why am I getting so nervous?' _he asked himself. _'This isn't even a date.'_

Hinagiku noticed his face turn red as he was staring at her the whole time. She was licking her spoon up to the tip when they met eyes.

She got up and walked away, right after throwing her frozen yogurt to his face. The couple sitting at a table behind them saw what just happened.

_"See Kin-chan? If I treated you that kindly, I'd still get treated poorly."_

_"Selfish bastard."_

_"Okay, I'm getting real tired of your crap! It's over! Give me back what I paid for!"_

* * *

She stomped all the way to the local park as the sun set, feeling the stares of other men looking at the young girl who was nicely dressed and also alone.

_'Bunch of pervs,' _she thought. _'That Hayate-kun is no different...'_

Was she not worth anymore than a piece of meat to him? She slowly sighed. She felt hurt by that thought and sat down on a nearby bench. She watched a couple sitting across on another bench, smiling together and feeding each other with frozen yogurt. She sweatdropped at the conveniently placed couple in front her.

_'Why can't we be like this together...?'_

She continued to watch the couple in envy with a sad look, resting her head on her arms placed on her knees, until she suddenly felt an extremely cold sensation on her left cheek. Hinagiku jumped and shrieked.

It was Hayate himself, holding a can of soda to her face. She immediately looked away from him, feeling too tired to walk away again.

"Hey! That's my move!" she said. "Copying is not cool." She slightly turned her head, peeking at the butler who now sat next to her.

"What's with you?" he asked bluntly, much to his and her surprise. "I treated you as part of the deal and you threw it to my face. You act like this is some kind of a bad date..."

_'That's because you don't see it as a date...' _she thought to herself. "Figure it out," she said instead.

"Eeehhh?!" Hayate became a little irritated.

"Idiot!" she yelled. "You're so lewd, Hayate-kun. Just from the way you were looking at me earlier. I thought you were better than that!"

He looked away from her with a blushed face. "Then stop dressing up so nicely."

She froze, forgetting what else she was about to say to him. She gazed at the sun behind Hayate set further down, turning their surroundings darker and more purple.

_Night time  
Sympathize  
I've been working on  
White lies_

"You don't have to dress so nicely when you're around me," he said. He gulped at his next words. "We're just friends, right?"

_So I'll tell the truth_  
_I'll give it up to you_

Her heart jumped at those words. "Yeah, right. Friends..." she said calmly, before hiding her hurt feelings with a smile. "Sorry, Hayate-kun. I just haven't been out for a while..." She fought the tears about to come out and succeeded once more. "I like to dress nice when I do, so that way it feels special..."

Hayate couldn't tell whether she liked him or not. Some parts still didn't make sense to him, but he gave up. He sighed as he pulled out two tickets in his hand. Hinagiku's eyes widened as she saw its content description. She gasped.

"No way! You got tickets for The *x?!" she asked him in an excited manner, holding and shaking the arm holding the tickets. "These are sold out front row seats! How did you get these?!"

_Earlier when Hinagiku left him, Hayate began to clean himself up when a couple behind him we're arguing._

_"No! Don't take away these tickets, Yutaka-kun! I love youuu!"_

_"Too late!" Yutaka walked over to the butler covered in frozen yogurt and slammed the tickets to his hand. "Here, take it."_

_Hayate looked the ticket description. "Ehhh?! But these are- these are-!"_

_"The difference between your woman and mine is that yours seem worth fighting for. Now go after her."_

Hayate laughed. "Well, it's a rather long story and it'd be complicated to explain..." he said.

He rubbed the back of his head feeling a little silly from earlier."Our fight is stupid, Hinagiku-san. Let's just go see The x* tonight."

Hinagiku made a big smile in return. "Hai!" What was she so hurt about in the beginning anyway?

_And when the day come_  
_It will have all been fun_  
_We'll talk about it soon_

It was a sold out night at the local musical theater. Night lights flashed dependently on the drum beats as fans cheered for the band playing right in front of the crowd. The pink haired girl who stood right up in front row stood still, overwhelmed by how much energy is surrounding her. The strums played loud and beautifully in her ears, the sub-woofers from the stage kept on blowing her hair. But what made her really feeling overwhelmed, was the boy standing by her side, holding her hand so they don't get separated by the huge crowd.

_And I couldn't spill my heart  
My eyes gleam  
Looking in from the dark  
I walk out in stormy weather  
Hope my words keep us together  
Steady walking but bound to trip  
Should release but just tighten my grip_

Hayate glanced at Hinagiku, who also began to happily cheer for the band. He didn't understand why he had to hold her hand when she requested it. The crowd surrounding them were just fine. He smiled nonetheless.

_Night time  
Sympathize  
I've been working on  
White lies  
So I'll tell the truth  
I'll give it up to you  
And when the day come  
It will have all been fun  
We'll talk about it soon_

* * *

_A/N - Song: __**The xx - Night Time**_

_In reply to a guest review, asking about what Kayura said to Hinagiku meant in the previous chapter - can't explain here to keep the fiction within its rating, but let's just say that if you respect the law, this would be something you should never say to anyone... lol. Anyways, sorry for the late update, and if you spotted anymore grammar error. Just got a second job. Didn't want to rush for my patient readers. Thank you guys. _


	12. And Then I Woke Up

**Chapter 12: And Then I Woke Up**

The night looked more lively than ever, as people exited the theater after The x*'s show had ended. Hayate and Hinagiku walked out in the city streets along with the busy crowd. They still held each other's hand.

"Hayate-kun... thank you."

He nodded to her, welcoming her, still speechless from the performance that the band has given them, and for some reason, he felt really good right now. He subtly squeezed his right hand holding her left. She responded by squeezing his hand back.

Hayate suddenly felt his ears get hot, as her soft hand warmed up with his on this refreshing night on the way back home.

Days go by when he would hold her hand again. This time, they stood together at the top balcony of Hakou's tower, right out of Hinagiku's office. Hayate held her closely by the shoulder and her right hand, as they watched the orange sky engulf the city in front of their view together.

"Thanks for helping me come here again..." she said.

"No problem, Hinagiku-san," he replied. "I've done very well this semester because of you."

He heard her whisper something softly. _"If only I could stay..."_

"W-what?"

"Nothing!" she exclaimed. She turned her head away and looked down and over the rail, seeing how high they must be from the balcony.

_'I've gotten used to holding a lot women's hands...' _he thought. _'But just being close to you lately...'_

__He felt lost, yet didn't mind, afraid of the real answers to what he's been wanting to ask her. Was this simply a service for the student council president after she helped him with school? Or was she just as happy as he was whenever they're together? His trail of thoughts were interrupted when he felt her grip tighten around his hand. She gulped at their view from up high.

"How scary would it be if we fell from here?" she asked.

Hayate felt her hand shaking vigorously. He laughed. "Well, it almost happened before with your sister," he said. "So, it would be extremely scary, right?"

"Yeah... right..."

She continued to look worried, until she felt his grip tighten as well. He smiled to her, spreading warmth throughout her body. Her hands no longer shook as she gave in to lean against his shoulder, reassured and feeling safe with him, as they continued to stay on the balcony for the rest of that evening.

Hayate then knew the answer to his questions. He was just waiting for her to tell him. And when she did...

_"Hayate-kun... stay..."_

It was that on that special night. He laid next to her, comfortably embracing her underneath the blankets as she buried her head on top of his chest. Nothing but the sound of smooth breathing could be heard. Hinagiku had her ear against his chest. She chuckled.

_"Your hearts beating faster,"_ she whispered to him.

"Aha... I can feel your heart beating too!"Hayate replied. Hinagiku froze when she suddenly realized that her chest wasn't pressed against her futon.

SLAP.

Hayate laid down ten inches away from her then, with a big glowing hand mark on his confused face. He looked to his left to see Hinagiku's back turned to him. Her fully flushed face stayed hidden from his sight as she silently damned herself, not wanting to end their night like this.

"You're gonna leave now, aren't you...?"she asked him, still embarrassed of the incident and the dream she had earlier, both relating of her figure. "You probably felt like you were embracing a washboard!"

Someone sleeping in her closet snickered.

She closed her eyes shut, just wanting to sleep right away. But they opened out of surprise, when she felt Hayate's arms wrap against her waist, pulling her body against him once more, with her back against his torso. She gave in immediately, just wanting to feel more of his warmth.

And they laid like this quietly for a couple of minutes, deeply sharing their intimacy under moonlight. The sound of deeper breathing could be heard as Hinagiku slowly began to fall asleep.

_"Don't let go..." _she whispered. Hayate leaned his head against the back of her's, once more familiarized with her strawberry scent.

_"I wish I could stay..."_

Hayate smiled. _'Of course you can,' _he thought. _'Even after A-Tan gets her power back...'_

_"But I can't..."_

He stopped his thoughts and carefully listened to her.

"Wha.. what do you mean?" he asked her.

She couldn't respond. She fell asleep.

Hayate's surroundings then suddenly vanished to black. He started to panic, but couldn't move. His body still laid down and he had trouble breathing. He turned his eyes to where Hinagiku was, but she disappeared. But he could hear her from somewhere, yelling and crying.

_"Stop! Please!"_ he heard her cry louder. _"He's not worth it, Otou-san, please..."_

His visions blurred when a male figure appeared right in front of him, with his arm reach out to his body, where Hayate guessed that he was choking from this man's grasp.

_"Okay... I'll go. Please..."_

_'Go...? Go where?' _he asked her.

_"I'll go to Harvard."_

_'Wha...'_

_"Just don't kill him!"_

* * *

"GASP!"

Hayate immediately woke up, gasping for air as he produced a lot of cold sweat. His visions were still blurry until he was finally able to breath. He looked at his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, on a hospital bed. As his visions continued to fixate, he noticed a body resting against the side of the hospital bed. It was Nagi, sleeping and drooling by his side.

"Ojou-sama..." he muttered. _'She must have been worried sick...'_

Having heard the familiar voice, her eyes popped open. She looked up to see Hayate awakened and immediately jumped to hug him.

"Hayate!" she shouted. Tears fell onto his shoulder. "I thought you'd be gone forever!"

"How long... was I out?" he asked, still adjusting his mind to his current state.

Another voice was heard in the room. "Twelve days."

Hayate and Nagi both glanced upon the lady in a black dress who just entered the room. Next to her was a shorter girl in an old fashioned kimono dress.

"A-Tan?"

"Isumi-san?"

"Hayate-kun, were you dreaming while you were out?" Athena asked him.

His mind suddenly popped an image of him sleeping with a pink-haired girl as he remembered in his dreams. "Y-yeah..." he responded, slightly blushing. "It was like an exact flashback of my recent events... then everything around turned black, then I..." He paused, almost choking from remembering the pain from suffocating.

"I see," Isumi commented. "That was no coma you were in then, otherwise you shouldn't have dreamed or even remember any of them."

"What was it then?" Nagi asked.

"Dark magic," Athena said. "Someone must have used the same powers I used to have on Hayate-kun." She glanced over at him with a little sad smile. "Whoever casted that spell on you didn't finish you off properly. Otherwise, you'd be... you'd be..."

Hayate watched her eyes glisten as she couldn't finish her sentence. "A-Tan..." He wanted to get up to to comfort her, but he felt weak, still unable to move like he wanted to. Just when he pushed his body to move, he felt a sharp pain throughout his entire body.

"Ah!" he yelled.

"Hayate-kun! Don't push yourself!" Nagi screamed out of worry. She watched as her butler panted as he still struggled to move. Hayate kept struggling until he slowly sat himself up.

"I need to..." he grunted. "Need to save... Hinagiku-san..." Right when he finally sat up, he struggled out of the hospital bed and began to fall to the floor. Athena quickly caught him to her arms.

"Baka! What are you doing?!" Athena yelled as well. "And what do you mean you need to save Katsura-san?"

"Her father..."he lowly muttered, unable to talk louder due to the amount of energy he was losing so fast. Athena blinked to his response.

"Isumi-san! Can't you heal him to make him stronger?!" Nagi shouted.

"I've already used most of my powers to bring Hayate-kun back over the past twelve days," she replied. "Combined with Tennousu-sama's powers, this is the best we can do."

Athena turned around and marched out of the door.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?"

"I think I know who hurt Hayate. I need to get to that person before he hurts anyone else."

She exited the room, fasting her pace as more fear rushed into her mind.

_'Mr. Katsura was the one who brought Hayate-kun here,' _she thought. _'But he never explained what exactly happened. Something's awfully strange and familiar about that man...'_

* * *

The sun began to set over Hakou Academy. Students happily walked out of the school buildings as the buildings kept on getting quieter. Hinagiku sat alone in the quiet tower, resting her head on her arms put on the table. Her table was a mess; papers everywhere along with a couple empty boxes of P*cky laid on top. She lazily watched the sunset over the open balcony.

"I'm such a fool..." she said to herself. After what she has been through, from seeing the the butler close to his ex-girlriend, to seeing him suffer close to his death, it was not what she wanted to happen. She continued to watch the sunset from her desk, unable to get on the balcony without his assistance.

She wanted to see him again, but couldn't out of embarrassment and fear, especially when she knew her father would not approve of her visit.

She felt dumb. "Hayate is an idiot!" she yelled out of her mind. "And yet, I still love him..."

A knock on her door was heard. She quickly sat up properly and organized her papers in just a few seconds. "C-come in!" she shouted.

The doors opened to reveal her father. "Hina-chan, it's getting late," Mr. Katsura said. "So I came here out of curiosity on my way home from the store."

"S-sorry, Otou-san..." she muttered. She couldn't look straight into her father's eye. Ever since he almost killed Hayate, Hinagiku felt something strange about her father, which overwhelmed her with fear.

He slowly walked to her desk as he gazed around the room. "Not bad for my daughter..." he said. "I'm sure you'll like it better over at Harvard."

She saddened when she heard that last word. It used to make her so excited whenever she heard it, but now, after making so many friends, and then meeting _him..._

"I'm... I don't know if I want to go anymore..." she said. He glanced at her from the front of her desk. She trembled and looked away from his glance. His hands reached over the desk and laid on top her shoulders. She closed her eyes, fearing something might happen.

"It's okay, Hina-chan," he said. "I respect whatever decision you will make. You are my incredibly intelligent daughter, after all."

She opened her eyes to her father, feeling reassured by his comfort. She gasped when his eyes glowed bright purple and his face growled at her. She pushed him away and ran towards the balcony door.

"Otou-san!" she shouted. "What's happening to you?"

Suddenly, the entrance door was kicked opened. "Stop right there!" Athena shouted as she ran into the room.

"Tennousu-san?"

"Stay away from him, Katsura! That is not your father!"

_'As I thought.'_

Bright lights of crystal formed into a sword to the pink-haired warrior's left hand. Hinagiku positioned herself in battle mode, facing the figure of her father glowing in violet energy. Before she could even charge, the figure glowed blindly bright before revealing a different form. A large floating skeletal figure appeared behind the possessed father figure.

"King Midas..." Athena muttered, just as she knew since she left the hospital.

_"Fools," _King Midas said through Mr. Katsura's body, followed by his dreaded laughter. _"I now have you both where I want..."_

* * *

Hayate ran towards the student council room along with Isumi, still processing his treatment, just when an explosion was heard just behind the door he now stood in front of. He gulped, fearing that the worst may have happened.

He opened the door and gasped. Gone were half the walls and the entire ceiling of the student council room, revealing the entire sunset shining its orange color on what's left of this room. Broken furniture, piles of wood all over the floor, and two girls laying on the floor unconsciously, covered in dust and bruises. His eyes widened when he saw neither of them barely move an inch.

"A-Tan! Hinagiku-san!" he shouted. He ran first to Athena, who was closer to the door he came through as Hinagiku laid by the balcony. He picked Athena off the floor and sat her upright against a broken shelf.

"Wake up, A-Tan! Wake up!"

He gently shook her by the shoulders, desperately wanting her to wake up. It was no use. Her eyes were barely open, staring right through the butler. Blood slipped out of her mouth and rolled down her chin.

"A-Tan...? A-Tan..."

Hinagiku began to hear that familiar voice. She knew exactly who that was, and it excited her to slowly regain her conscious. But as she heard more of his voice...

"A-Tan, please... please wake up... A-Tan..."

Why must he say _her _name instead? Why couldn't he see the one who's actually breathing and has a chance to live?

Hinagiku's eyes opened wide at such a thought. _'No wonder why... he wouldn't choose me,'_ she thought. _'I'm such a horrible person...' _She stayed laying against the floor full of shame, watching Hayate cry and embrace a dead girl in his arms. Hinagiku wished that she was the one dead and closed her eyes, just wanting to go to sleep. As she laid still on the floor, she heard footsteps coming towards her.

"Hinagiku-san?"

She kept her eyes closed, wondering what the butler would do. She felt her body getting picked up, then was put against something to keep her sitting upright. She felt his strong hands on her shoulders as he gently shook her. As he shook her more, Hinagiku felt happy to be in his care, yet slowly felt her consciousness slip away.

She could no longer open her eyes. This was it. To be in Hayate's arms during her final moment. Hinagiku formed a smile.

_'Dying doesn't seem that bad... when I'm with you...'_

She felt her heart beat slower by the second as she felt coldness all over her body. It was painful, but she still felt some kind of warmth around her heart.

Specifically, her chest.

_"It's beating."_

Hinagiku widened her eyes opened and glanced down at Hayate's head firmly against her chest, pressed to his ear. Her entire body fired up, flowing all the energy put into her left hand and smacked Hayate so hard, it flew him three meters away from her.

"H-h-he-hen-hentai!" she shouted, furiously blushing as she covered her chest with her arms.

Hayate rubbed his face, feeling the sting from her hand. He immediately forgot the pain, as he felt really relieved.

"Hinagiku-san, you're alive," he said. "Thank goodness..."

She blinked. She forgot that she was almost dying!

"Ah, yeah. I guess I am..." she said, rubbing the back of her head. She glanced over his shoulder, looking at Athena laying still, as Isumi next to her was casting some spell on her.

_'Tennousu-san...' _she thought. _'She died protecting me...' _Hinagiku's mind replayed the moment when Athena jumped right in front of her, right before King Midas caused an explosion and disappeared.

"Hayate-kun..." she said. "I'm going to find that bastard and kill him."

"Well then, go ahead and kill me."

Hinagiku and Hayate both glanced up to see King Midas and Mr. Katsura's body floating over the room, preparing a giant glowing violet bomb in his hand.

"Not again!" Hinagiku said. There was no time to react, as Mr. Katsura's body threw the bomb towards them.

Hayate stood still at awe as he felt a huge amount of energy come their way. It felt the same as before, when Mr. Katsura was strangling him. His body couldn't move again at such a thought. Suddenly, he felt his arms being grabbed by Hinagiku, who pulled the both of them out of the way with nowhere in the room to dodge, so she quickly jumped out of the balcony with Hayate.

The entire balcony was obliterated as Hayate and Hinagiku flew high from the impact of the second explosion. Hinagiku clung to Hayate, arms and legs locked around his body, with acrophobia hitting her to the fullest as she their bodies quickly fell down from the top of the tower.

Hayate snapped back to his senses, as Hinagiku uncontrollably screamed into his ear. They were falling. They were falling very fast over the sunset. He came up with a quick idea.

"Hinagiku-san! I need you to-!"

"Ahhh! We're gonna dieee!" she cried.

"You need to-!"

"I love you! I love you, Hayate-kun!"


End file.
